In October 2025, I sadly had to say goodbye to Bruce, my canine companion for the past 6 and a half years, who gave me such warmth, comfort, loyalty and unconditional love. An independently minded and always curious Staffordshire Bull Terrier Crossbreed, Bruce was an incredibly special soul, and as a person living with chronic migraine, his presence was truly transformative for me, helping me through some very difficult times.

I have a long history of migraine, first starting with symptoms in my mid-30s. I now live with chronic migraine with prolonged brainstem aura symptoms. This is a subtype of migraine, where for me, headache and pain are not the main features. During an attack my speech, balance, coordination, general function and thought processes can be severely affected, together with other symptoms of nausea and sensitivity to sound.

That’s how my head feels on my body when an attack sets in, with all the surrounding bowling alley noise of the pins being knocked over, people laughing, lights flashing and background music playing being highly amplified and therefore intolerable. Then add the feeling of something gripping that ball like a metal clamp, to give an idea of what the sensations experienced during a migraine attack may be like for me.

I have seen numerous clinicians, tried a whole variety of treatments and therapies, in addition to making changes to my lifestyle.

Eventually, I had to retire on ill-health grounds in 2017 and left my professional career. This was a very tumultuous time for me: having to endure a lengthy sickness management process that eventually led to my contract of employment terminated; the need to appeal for my ill-health retirement pension after it was initially rejected; going through the PIP assessment process, getting awarded basic payments, then getting them withdrawn on reassessment when criteria had been changed despite my worsening clinical symptoms; and having to take my employers to Tribunal over disability discrimination issues.

All of this was very isolating, caused substantial stress and really impacted my mental health.

It didn’t take long at all for our bond to build once the adoption was confirmed. Even that first day of bringing him home in the car, I could feel he had established a sense of trust in me. From there, our connection continued to build, and we developed our daily routine: waking in the morning to take my medication followed by cuddles, getting out for our morning and afternoon walks (Bruce on timekeeping duties, of course!) and mealtimes right on schedule.

As a result of having this routine, Bruce would also sense I was having my bad migraine days if I got up in the morning but wasn’t able to shower due to lack of balance, and he would be very patient, quiet, and forego his usual demands for outings, being quite happy to potter around in the back garden.

If I needed assistance, I would shout “Bruce, here, help”, and he would come upstairs and stand by my bed, close enough for me to put my hand on his back so that I could stabilise myself to get up and stand. He then would walk beside me and somehow had learnt himself the best position to stand behind me when coming down the stairs, so that the weight of his body would support me behind my legs if I started to tip backwards or could put my hand there next to him to maintain balance. I didn’t teach him to do this; he just seemed to know what to do! When my migraine attack had lifted, and he would hear me go into the bathroom, the noise of the shower and see me come downstairs changed out of my pyjamas – that was it; action stations, and usual routine back on!

Bruce came into my life at a time of change, and a time when living with migraine was becoming increasingly difficult. We somehow understood each other and were able to give what each other needed; this feeling of being understood for who you are, security, affection, warmth and comfort. I genuinely feel that we rescued each other, and I will be forever thankful for the time I had with him whilst he was physically present.