Contributor Bio: Nancy Harris Bonk

Nancy Harris Bonk

Nancy is a patient leader and advocate who has the honor and privilege of helping people living with headache disease empower themselves to take an active role in their healthcare. Nancy became familiar with migraine and headache disease when she started having migraine attacks during menses. These were easily treated with over the counter medications for many years.

In December 1996, Nancy slipped and fell on a patch of black ice in her driveway slamming her head and sustaining a traumatic brain injury, changing her life forever. This fall triggered unrelenting head and neck pain and chronic migraine attacks. In addition to chronic head and neck pain, Nancy lives with Sjogren’s Disease, mixed connective tissue disease, hypothyroidism, anxiety, and fibromyalgia.

While living with intractable pain and raising her children, Nancy was searching for support and in 2003 moderated the About.com (now Remedy Health) migraine discussion forum. In 2005 she became a moderator and from 2007-2013 was a Health Guide and Community Manager at Remedy Health. 

In 2011 Nancy joined Health Union’s first site, Migraine.com, as a contributor/moderator and was nominated for the 2012 WEGO Health Activist Unsung Hero Award. In April 2011, she founded the Western New York Migraine and Headache Disorder Support Group, the first local in person migraine and headache disorder support group in Buffalo, N.Y. This group meets monthly and continues to support and educate people with migraine and headache disease, their families, and friends. 

In 2013 Nancy was named one of the Top Ten Social Health Media Makers in headache and migraine, was a WEGO Health Activist ‘Unsung Hero’ finalist, and has been a WEGO Health Activist award finalist in the categories of ‘Health Activist Hero” and “Best in Show; Facebook.” Nancy enjoys working closely with other health advocates on projects that create awareness and change in the headache disease community.

Nancy was Vice President of Chronic Migraine Awareness, Inc., CMA, Inc. a 501 (c) (3) nonprofit with over 50,000 members, from 2016 until 2025. In 2018 she was invited to be on the National Headache Foundation’s Patient Leadership Council and sits on the board of the Alliance for Headache Disorders Advocacy and CHAMP, the Coalition for Headache and Migraine Patients. 

Nancy lives in Albany, N.Y. When she’s not advocating for people with headache disease, she enjoys baking, quilting, watercolor painting, orchids and spending time with family.