SALT LAKE CITY — Math homework is part of Emma Peterson’s busy, daily routine as a sixth-grader at Bonneville Junior High.
The 11-year-old is also a dedicated dancer who enjoys spending time with her friends and family. However, two years ago, she was barely able to get out of bed to do any of it.
“She was just flat on her back. She was so nauseated, and she was seeing all of these strange, flashing lights,” said Carrie Peterson, Emma’s mother.
At the time, Emma’s mother, Carrie said they couldn’t figure out what she was suffering from.
“We went to a neurologist, we went to the emergency room, and no one could really seem to get her out of this really acute, exceedingly painful state,” Carrie explained. “It was terrifying. You start to think, is it a brain tumor?”
Turns out, it wasn’t a brain tumor; it was migraine disease.
They got the diagnosis from Dr. Dan Henry, who began specializing in childhood and adolescent headache disease in Utah because of his daughter, Danielle.
At the age of 8, Danielle developed severe migraine disease. Her symptoms only worsened and became more frequent over time.
“Danielle battled the disease until the age of 17 when she died by suicide. That was in 1999,” said Elizabeth Henry Weyher, Danielle’s sister.
Since then, Danielle’s family has devoted their life’s work toward educating others about the debilitating disorder that impacts over 37 million people in the United States, according to the American Migraine Foundation.
In 2016, they created the Danielle Byron Henry Migraine Foundation based in Salt Lake City.
Just last year, the foundation worked with the Utah PTA to pass a resolution that brings headache and migraine education into public schools statewide.
Soon after, the foundation helped to introduce the Migraine at School program.
It provides a compilation of resources for parents, teachers, and students.
“We are working with ambassadors, people on the ground to go to their school community to bring the information directly to their school,” according to Weyher, who is a co-director of Migraine At School.
Weyher said they’re currently reaching more than 600,000 students in Utah, with plans to implement Migraine At School at charter schools throughout The Beehive State. Eventually, the goal is to expand the program’s reach nationwide.
