Raising Awareness about Chronic Migraine

On Tuesday, November 13, 2012, celebrity event planner Mindy Weiss will be in Mobile to give a local chronic migraine patient a second chance at a Thanksgiving dinner she originally missed due to having a debilitating migraine. University of Mobile Director of Enrollment and Mobile resident, Charity Wittner has been living with migraines since she was seven. She has now officially been diagnosed with Chronic Migraine, meaning she experiences migraines and headaches on 15 or more days per month.

The condition has caused Charity to miss out on a lot of events in her life, but every Thanksgiving, she looks forward to spending time with her family, as it’s the only holiday when she has the chance. Three years ago a migraine got in the way, but this year, she’ll get a second chance to spend time with her family at a festive Thanksgiving celebration.

Charity is a winner of the national Rewrite Your Day contest , and celebrity event planner Mindy Weiss will be in Mobile on November 13 to recreate the Thanksgiving Charity missed, and the day will be filled with her family traditions. Charity is currently working with a headache specialist who is helping her find a treatment plan that is right for her. She urges anyone living with the condition to do the same.

Chronic Migraine is a neurological condition that causes people to experience headaches on 15 or more days per month with the headache lasting four hours a day or longer. The condition affects approximately 3.2 million Americans, and women are three times more likely than men to experience migraines. Approximately 80 percent of those who meet the definition of Chronic Migraine have not received an accurate diagnosis.

Many people living with Chronic Migraine have missed out on special moments in their life. In order to raise awareness of the disabling symptoms and burden of Chronic Migraine, Allergan, Inc., the National Headache Foundation and Healthy Women partnered with celebrity wedding planner, Mindy Weiss, on the Rewrite Your Day campaign. To bring attention to the intense burden and impact Chronic Migraine can have on a patient’s life, Mindy is giving 15 people living with Chronic Migraine the chance to relive a special moment in their life that they lost to the condition, symbolizing the 15 or more headache days a month experienced by people with the condition.

For more information about the Rewrite Your Day contest, go to www.rewriteyourday.com .

Photos courtesy of Chad Riley Photography.