Migraine Writer
Migraine Patient Advocate
Danielle Newport Fancher
Danielle is a writer, speaker, migraine patient advocate, and the author of the migraine memoir 10: A Memoir of Migraine Survival. She has lived with chronic migraine since the age of 20, and with intractable migraine since October 2, 2013. She’s made it her mission to advocate for the 40+ million Americans living with headache disorders.
For over a decade her work has relentlessly brought the patient perspective to clinicians, pharmaceutical companies, non-profits and Congress, and most importantly, those affected by migraine disease. Her mission is clear: to make the path easier for everyone still fighting for answers.
Award-winning migraine memoir
10: A Memoir of Migraine Survival
“Yes, this book is about migraines. But it is also about the raw human experience of hope, hopelessness, and the daily struggle in between.”
“As a physician, I think it would be insightful for physicians and other health care professionals to read this book, regardless of specialty.”
Migraine is an underfunded, under-researched and misunderstood disease. That distance between the reality and the response is what fuels Danielle’s work.
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Sources:
Burch, Rebecca C., Paul Rizzoli, and Elizabeth W. Loder. “The Prevalence and Impact of Migraine and Severe Headache in the United States: Figures and Trends from Government Health Studies.” Headache: The Journal of Head and Face Pain, vol. 58, no. 4, 2018, pp. 496–505. https://doi.org/10.1111/head.13281.
National Institutes of Health. “Funding for Various Research, Condition, and Disease Categories (RCDC), FY2008–FY2024.” NIH RePORT, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 17 June 2025, https://report.nih.gov/funding/categorical-spending. Accessed 18 Sept. 2025.
American Migraine Foundation. “Migraine and Mental Health Connection Survey.” 28 July 2022. https://americanmigrainefoundation.org/resource-library/migraine-mental-health-connection-survey/.
Alliance for Headache Disorders Advocacy. “Headache Education, Access, Diagnosis, and Care Health Equity (HEADACHE) Act (H.R. 5536).” Fact sheet, 2026.
Photograph by Kimberly Bevan.
Illustration by Lea Carey.
© Danielle Newport Fancher · New York