Strength in Every Story™

Thomas was in the U.S. Navy for 20 years and is a retired E6 cryptologic technician. Back in 1992, when onboarding a frigate for a security alert, Thomas was vigorously running through the corridors when he clipped his head on the ship’s hatch and was unconscious for 15 minutes. After the incident occurred, Thomas’ head pain would be mistaken for allergies and would later be more persistent, defined as migraine.

For the past 25 years, Bob has been at the forefront of the cluster headache community, advocating for increased research, awareness, and better treatment options. His unwavering dedication to supporting others with this often-misunderstood condition is truly inspiring.

What felt like an ordinary school day, Isabella’s life changed forever when she was in the fifth grade and a bully maliciously yanked out her chair as she was about to sit down. Now, Isabella faces persistent headache and migraine attacks, a lasting consequence of the fall that forever changed her life.

For ten years in his late 20s and early 30s, Jim lived with intense head pain that came and went in clusters that doctors couldn’t explain, which treatments couldn’t help and altered the course of his daily life.

As a nurse, Penny has spent her career caring for others but for years, she’s also been quietly struggling with a condition of her own. Migraine has been a constant, unwelcome companion in Penny’s life. Her journey began around age 12, coinciding with her menstrual cycle with attacks that struck with a crushing intensity.

In 2008, driven and courageous 21-year-old Stephen, was in the United States Army Airborne School when he sustained a neck injury. With no other apparent complications, Stephen quickly regained his strength within a few days but was unaware that the condition would develop into something more over the years.

Jon, a retired food scientist, has been in remission from cluster headache for 2 ½ years. While he’s thankful the headache attacks have stopped, he remains unsure of the reason behind their disappearance.

Kate, a U.S. Coast Guard veteran, who served for 13 years, was occasionally stationed in radiation fallout areas, including Kodiak, Alaska, where she suspects her thyroid tumor developed. Shortly after surgery, Kate would experience excruciating head pain that would later be defined and diagnosed as chronic migraine and trigeminal neuralgia.

Cheryl McJoy suffered an injury while in the U.S. Navy that led to incapacitating headache attacks and years of fighting for a correct diagnosis.

Believing she had a sinus headache, U.S. Army veteran, Melissa, went years self-medicating, not knowing the danger of doing so.

At just 10 years old, JP was diagnosed with migraine with aura. Little did she know this would be the start of a lifelong battle with chronic migraine disease.

Kayla’s journey with cluster headache and intractable chronic migraine began after being struck by a motorcycle. The head pain came soon after and were the first of many attacks that she would wake up to every morning for the next three years of her life.