Mayumi’s Story

Mayumi was born and raised in Tokyo, Japan, and lived there until she moved to Seattle in 1995 to attend graduate school at the University of Washington. She graduated from UW with a Master’s degree in Social Science and met her future husband. They married and moved to the Eastside, where they raised twin daughters.

After graduation, Mayumi worked in the tech industry until her breast cancer diagnosis in 2008. After undergoing chemotherapy and surgery, she achieved complete remission.

In 2009, she made the decision to pursue a new career. She followed her passion and enrolled in graduate school at the Seattle Institute of East Asian Medicine to study traditional East Asian medicine.However, in the middle of her studies, she was diagnosed with Stage 4 cancer, and she took a year off from school in order to focus on treatment. Throughout treatment, she used acupuncture and Chinese herbs to manage the side effects of cancer therapies. Despite needing ongoing treatment, she decided to return to SIEAM to finish her degree. Mayumi graduated in 2014 with a Masters in Acupuncture and then started her own practice. 

Mayumi didn’t let cancer stop her from achieving her dreams. She was a graduate student working towards a second Master’s degree in a second language and a mother to two young daughters, all while undergoing treatment at the cancer center.  She was an inspiration to many others by showing them that we can achieve our dreams, even when faced with significant obstacles.  She encouraged her daughters to pursue their goals and to do things they enjoy, even when life presents unexpected challenges. 

In June 2016, after a brave 8-year battle, she passed away peacefully in her sleep at home.

The name Mayumi 真弓 contains the Japanese character 弓, which represents a bow for shooting arrows. Because an acupuncture needle is shaped like an arrow, Mayumi said that her destiny in life was to be an acupuncturist and to use needles to heal patients.

Mayumi had many passions in life. She enjoyed traveling to Hawaii and was able to go with her family in 2015, while getting treatment. Since her youth, she loved outdoor recreation such as hiking, tennis, and skiing. She and her husband took their daughters camping, hiking, and backpacking every summer. Her favorite place on earth to hike and camp was Mt. Rainier, and she chose to have her ashes spread there after her passing. So if you ever see Mt. Rainier showing on a glorious day in Seattle, that is Mayumi smiling upon you and encouraging you in your pursuits!

Scholarship Details

Mayumi Hashizume had a spirit of care and determination worth emulating. Even knowing she had little time to live, she demonstrated an unwavering dedication to her goal of helping the community through acupuncture and healing touch. She persevered through life’s unexpected challenges and  finally achieved her goal in opening a practice in the final years of her life. Through her care, she touched many people and helped many patients. 

The goal of the Mayumi Hashizume Memorial Scholarship is to encourage the increased participation in the field of East Asian medicine of people who have a strong determination to be of service to the community, but who have encountered significant obstacles to doing so. These obstacles and barriers may include racial inequality or discrimination, significant financial hardship, challenges with health or disabilities, and other issues that may cause ostracism from society. 

This scholarship is a non-cash tuition discount that will be set annually by the SIEAM Board, but, like the annual tuition, will not change once awarded. The tuition discount will be not less than $5,000, and may increase over time at the discretion of the SIEAM Board. In the first year the scholarship is awarded, the committee will select no more than two students from each cohort to receive the scholarship. In each subsequent year, the committee will award the scholarship to no more than two students from that year’s entering first-year cohort. Each student to whom the scholarship is awarded will receive an annual tuition discount. The scholarship is only applicable during the first three years of the program, and does not extend to the fourth year. Once a student is awarded the scholarship, it will remain in place until the end of the 3rd year, unless the student leaves the program, fails to maintain Satisfactory Academic Progress, or violates any of the existing guidelines on student conduct.  

The scholarship is managed by the Mayumi Hashizume Memorial Scholarship Committee, the SIEAM Board and the SIEAM Admissions Committee. The applications will be accepted from September 15 - October 15. All interested candidates should submit an application to: [email protected]. 

All scholarship applicants should submit the answers to the following question(s): 

  1. Describe what you have done up to the present time and your plan for the future that demonstrates your commitment to providing patient care and/or helping people in need. 

  2. Describe the obstacles that you have overcome to get you where you are today, including information about financial difficulties.

The answers to these questions should total NO MORE than 3 pages. Additional written pages will not be considered.