Miles for Migraine raises awareness for ‘invisible disease’

MORGANTOWN, W.Va. (WBOY) — The Miles for Migraine 5K took place Saturday morning, bringing awareness to what the organization calls “an invisible disease.”

The race had the goal of bringing understanding to the disease. It raised over $10,000 for training at the West Virginia University Headache Center, as well as supporting research on the disease, of which the group says there is relatively little.

Dr. Umer Najib of the WVU Rockefeller Neuroscience Institute was at the race and said that migraine affects one in six households in America, but that there are as few as 700 migraine specialists.

Volunteer at Miles for Migraine Katie Moran suffers from migraine herself and spoke to 12 News about her frustration with the lack of understanding in society toward the disease.

“Because our disease is invisible, a lot of people don’t want to talk about it, because they feel like people will say, ‘take an aspirin, take an Advil.’”

The Miles for Migraine website describes migraine as “more than head pain”, explaining that while migraines can sometimes be hereditary, the exact causes remain unknown.

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