Brenda Sharp refers to herself as a ‘long time TN Warrior’. Trigeminal Neuralgia struck early on at the age of 12. Many years of remissions followed, but by the time she was in her twenties, it was back with a vengeance. She had undergone 3 surgeries and maxed out on medications. An MVD in 1986 proved successful and provided many years of pain-free life.

There was limited info available back in the eighties. She reached out through newspapers and magazine articles to find other TN patients and started her own support group in 2000. When the FPRF was founded, she started organizing local fundraisers in order to raise money for research. In 2016, she organized “Aces4Faces”, a Monte Carlo night with proceeds going to the FPRF. Brenda believes that raising awareness is just as important as research and has helped with the Lighting Up Teal campaign every year on October 7th, which is International Trigeminal Neuralgia Awareness Day.

Brenda has also enjoyed a variety of career paths over the years.

As a Brainwave Technologist, she owned and operated ‘Brain Matters’, a health clinic providing Brainwave Optimization™, helping clients achieve balance and better health by balancing their brainwave frequencies.

During her time as a Project Administrator/Quality Control Administrator, she worked on several multi-million-dollar heavy civil construction jobs, mainly bridge building and wind turbine erection across Ontario.

Varied interests resulted in a variety of career choices, such as Medical Secretary/Transcriptionist, Veterinary Assistant, Gymnastics Coach, and Private Investigator, to name a few.

Time spent as a Media Research Interviewer included interviewing physicians for Medical Media Research, where data was submitted for surveys.

Volunteering has also played a big part in Brenda’s life. For a time, she worked as a Hospice Volunteer for the Victorian Order of Nurses, but the greatest amount of time was spent volunteering with the TN community. She currently provides support to fellow TN patients in the Niagara Region, as well as being the Volunteer Fundraising Coordinator for the FPRF.

When Brenda is not volunteering for various clubs and organizations, she loves to spend family time with her husband Bryan, with whom she shares 6 children and 17 grandchildren.