Linda Simons: Personal Statement 

My interest in treating the whole person, not just the disease, has been a personal and professional calling.

While I was working as a registered nurse in the 1990s, my mother was diagnosed with non-Hodgkins Lymphoma. At that time, integrative medicine was not part of mainstream healthcare. The only treatment options offered to patients like my mother were surgery and chemotherapy.

Despite her trepidation, my mother had surgery and reluctantly received chemotherapy. Ironically, while receiving her last course of chemotherapy, she was given a toxic dose of the wrong chemotherapy medication. She died of that medication error, not cancer.

After losing my mother, a friend encouraged me to try acupuncture. She felt it would support me with the shock and grief I was experiencing. I'd never heard of acupuncture. I tried it with curiosity and a bit of skepticism. Much to my surprise, I discovered that this system of medicine supported my whole being - body, mind, and spirit. I learned acupuncture was a system of medicine based on the laws of nature with a 3000-year clinical trial! After years of working within the allopathic perspective of hospitals, clinics, and assisted care facilities, acupuncture opened a new understanding in me – and a fresh, valuable way to support healing at the deepest level. One year after my mother's death, I began my studies at the Traditional Acupuncture Institute.

Inspired by my mother's experience, I committed to contributing to the growing need for safe, holistic approaches to patient care and being an educator and leader in the field.

Throughout my career, my professional objective has always been to design and implement acupuncture treatments specifically for each patient rather than rely on cookie-cutter protocols that dominate many systems of medicine today. This orientation is paramount in the practice of Traditional Five-Element Acupuncture.

As a teacher, practitioner, and even a patient, I am passionate about the beauty and benefits of this extraordinary system of medicine. I am deeply committed to working with others who wish to learn this approach to care.

It is my gift to my mother's legacy and the future generations. 

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