Alive Acupuncture Health Clinic Wong Mary BSc DrTCM DrAc

Mary Wong was in her second year of her biology degree at McMaster University, plans firmly in place to study medicine, when her grandmother suddenly became very ill. She was suffering kidney failure. Nothing could be done; her grandmother could only expect to live another two weeks according to the doctor, and at 86 years of age, she was seen as having lived a full life. Mary knew nothing about Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), but was ready to find any treatment that offered a different perspective. She sought the advice of a doctor of Chinese medicine; after three months of treatments and rest at home, her grandmother went on to live another eight healthy years. Mary abandoned her plans for medical school and turned instead to this very old medical tradition that was still new to mainstream Toronto.

When she began her practice, Mary was definitely an anomaly. At that time, doctors of TCM could only be found in Chinatown, spoke little English, and served only the Chinese community. A Westernized practitioner was seen as an outsider by both communities and, for Mary, being a young woman certainly didn’t help.

“The persona of a doctor of Chinese medicine was supposed to be more like Confucius, an experienced, elderly man,” Mary explains. “I was definitely the opposite of that.”