Chronic Migraine Awareness, The First Ten Years

June 29, 2012

Where were you? What were you doing? Can you remember? I sure don’t! But if you ask Catherine Charrett-Dykes where she was, she vividly remembers. June 29 is the day that Chronic Migraine Awareness held its very first event! Cat had t-shirts made that said Chronic Migraine Awareness with purple and red ribbons. She printed information on bookmarks to hand out at The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City. People walking by could put faces to Chronic Migraine Disease — some even shared stories about their friends and family who also had migraine disease. What a great feeling it must have been for the small group to exchange stories in a safe space, without stigma. The day was a wonderful success! This day would forever be Chronic Migraine Awareness Day!

Chronic Migraine Awareness Day Growth

Cat’s vision blossomed during the last 10 years. The single day gave life to Chronic Migraine Awareness, Inc., a 501c3 nonprofit organization. A small group of four individuals grew into approximately 50,000 members that reaches 80 countries across the globe. We appreciate all of our volunteers that continue to hand out pamphlets and wear t-shirts to bring awareness to our community and about our disease.

CMA has a strong online presence: our website, app, Facebook (29.6K), Twitter (5.3K), Instagram (6.4K) and, most recently, TikTok where we are continuing to grow our audience! Our blog brings migraine stories to life, and we appreciate your willingness to share your personal stories with us. We offer many different groups for you to join or volunteer.

Extra Special MHAM Event

Every year, during Migraine and Headache Awareness Month, we Advocate for Access by featuring Facts About Migraine and Faces of Migraine on our social media pages and website.  Our mission is to amplify the voice of the chronic migraine community. The continued goal is to spread awareness and end the stigma surrounding chronic migraine disease. There are still so many people that believe that migraine is just a headache and brush us and our pain under the proverbial rug. With your help, we still have much more work to do and need you to continue to Rally Against Chronic Migraine and Advocate for Access with us! 

Chronic Migraine Awareness would like to invite you to our Ten-Year Celebration on June 25, 2022! Please celebrate Chronic Migraine Awareness Day with us and spread the facts of chronic migraine disease until everyone knows that it isn’t all in our head and we have reached every single country on Earth.

CMA Street Fair: June 25 from 11am – 4pm
99 New York Ave
Massapequa, NY 11758

Event includes local vendors, food trucks, special guest speakers and will also feature The School of Rock! Come out with all your purple flare and celebrate this milestone with us! We cannot wait to #RallyAgainstChronicMigraine with you!