Patients ask me all the time why did I become a chiropractor? This goes back to 9th grade at which time I decided that I wanted to become an orthodontist. How cool it would be to put wires on kids teeth all day. From then on until the end of my Sophomore year in college this was my goal. Then on the night before my dental admissions test I changed my mind and didn’t show up for the test. I will joke that I didn’t like the idea of working inside people’s mouths for the rest of my life, but although that is true, the full truth is much more interesting.
I met my wife, Diana, during my senior year in high school in photography class, a class that probably is not offered today given the state of our budget. I asked her out to my grad night (she was 2 years behind me) and the rest is history. We were married two years later and have been happily wedded for 30 years. However, what I quickly learned about was her affection for or addition to Excedrin, a concoction of aspirin, Tylenol, and caffeine. She came from a long line of headache and migraine sufferers and was taking 16-18 Excedrin per day for her headaches. Later one of her grandmothers would die from a bleeding ulcer due to Excedrin. From her I learned the dangers of legal drugs. I had already learned from others in my early life the dangers of illegal drugs. So, Diana began to visit a chiropractor and her results impressed me so much that I followed this doctor around and become increasingly interested in his work. I loved that my then fiancé felt so much better from his drugless approach and it also connected with my mother’s approach to health, both natural and active. From my mother I had learned that wellness is not an accident, that is must be worked for, and I know of no one who has worked at it harder and more consistently than she.
So in August 1983 I began studies at Los Angeles College of Chiropractic, now the Southern California University of Health Sciences. After 10 semesters of intense study including a year of internship I graduated 3rd in my class, summa cum laude. Between my education there and countless post-graduate conferences, seminars, and classes, I learned the role that subluxation plays not only in my wife’s headaches and migraines, but also the importance it plays in diminishing all aspects of our wellness. So while my first reason to become a chiropractor may have been merely to help my wife with her headaches, it has evolved over nearly a quarter of a century to rid as many people of as much vertebral subluxation as I can in one life time. And I am honored to have that role with you today.
I met my wife, Diana, during my senior year in high school in photography class, a class that probably is not offered today given the state of our budget. I asked her out to my grad night (she was 2 years behind me) and the rest is history. We were married two years later and have been happily wedded for 30 years. However, what I quickly learned about was her affection for or addition to Excedrin, a concoction of aspirin, Tylenol, and caffeine. She came from a long line of headache and migraine sufferers and was taking 16-18 Excedrin per day for her headaches. Later one of her grandmothers would die from a bleeding ulcer due to Excedrin. From her I learned the dangers of legal drugs. I had already learned from others in my early life the dangers of illegal drugs. So, Diana began to visit a chiropractor and her results impressed me so much that I followed this doctor around and become increasingly interested in his work. I loved that my then fiancé felt so much better from his drugless approach and it also connected with my mother’s approach to health, both natural and active. From my mother I had learned that wellness is not an accident, that is must be worked for, and I know of no one who has worked at it harder and more consistently than she.
So in August 1983 I began studies at Los Angeles College of Chiropractic, now the Southern California University of Health Sciences. After 10 semesters of intense study including a year of internship I graduated 3rd in my class, summa cum laude. Between my education there and countless post-graduate conferences, seminars, and classes, I learned the role that subluxation plays not only in my wife’s headaches and migraines, but also the importance it plays in diminishing all aspects of our wellness. So while my first reason to become a chiropractor may have been merely to help my wife with her headaches, it has evolved over nearly a quarter of a century to rid as many people of as much vertebral subluxation as I can in one life time. And I am honored to have that role with you today.