Co-founding Laugh Your Face Off transformed a deeply personal experience into a major charitable initiative that has raised more than $5.5 million for the Facial Pain Research Foundation over the past 11 years. Explain how building this fundraiser has taught you about the power of community.
Twelve years ago, most people in this city had never heard of trigeminal neuralgia or neuropathic facial pain. Today, Chicago is pretty much the center of the TN universe. Most of the people who come to our event have zero personal association with the disease—they don’t know anyone who has it. Hell, I’d bet many of them still have a basic understanding of the disease at best. But they keep showing up. I think most people want to show up—you just need to tell them where to go.
How do you balance being a husband who wants to protect his family’s privacy with being an advocate who knows that sharing your story can help others?
For the longest time, I never even mentioned Amy on the show, and I definitely never posted anything about her online. I never wanted to subject her to any of these maniacs on social media. We made a very careful and conscious decision many years ago to share her story and to discuss what that could mean. We accept what comes with that as it pertains to our mission, because it’s completely worth it. But at the same time, I’m also fiercely protective of her. I like to think I’m incredibly approachable, but say, HYPOTHETICALLY, she’s in the hospital, and you’re delivering her meal and you want a selfie—that could be a problem for us.