“If I can help just one person, then what else can I ask for?”

A Chiropractic Physician shares the story of her own experience as a cancer patient, and as a physician during COVID-19.

I want to share this story to inspire . If I can help just one person, then what else can I ask for?

That was me then, this is me now. If there’s anything I’ve learned from life, it’s that we do not live in a black and white world. We live in a world full of trials and tribulations and endless grayscales.

My life was beautiful on the outside, but like many of us I suffered behind closed doors. Just when I thought life had given me enough hits, I took the biggest hit of all: cancer. 

I could go on and on about the torture I endured and the tears my family shed. But I’d rather speak of what I gained. 

Cancer taught me how to fight for my life. It taught me to look in the mirror at my bald head and all and feel beautiful. Not for my outside, but for my soul. 

I learned to be present, and when hurt came my way, to forgive. Because there is no time like NOW. THIS moment, to live the one life you have been given. 

Take risks when they present themselves and break boundaries at all costs. The sky is the limit. And above all, cancer taught me to smile even in the hardest of times— tomorrow is never guaranteed. 

I am Dr. Alessandra Colon.

Right now I’m most afraid of not having enough time to make a big enough impact on this world. Of not having time to experience more travels, especially to all the places I grew up all over the world. I’d like to spend my adulthood revisiting my childhood memories, flooded in culture, breaking bread with complete strangers.

My happiest moment during COVID-19 has been the gift of Time. As a physician working too many hours and a do-it-all-kind-of-girl, it seemed there were never enough hours in the day. I lived life at 100 miles an hour. But for the first time in a long while I have been able to stop and have intimate conversations with patients. 

I have been able to talk with them about their troubles and their ambitions. I have been spending more quality time with my family as a mother, wife and daughter. 

And even more so, I have had the ability to get back to all the things I am passionate about: journaling, singing a tune, and dancing like no one’s watching. All the things that make my heart full. 

It’s been nice to slow down. It’s not something I’m accustomed to.

The saddest moment of the COVID-19 crisis, for me, has been the fear. COVID has placed us at Divide. It has fueled hate, remorse, attacks, sadness and at times even anger. 

I like to think that truth and love lie somewhere in the middle. That if we could learn to hear each other, to listen compassionately, maybe our fear could turn to strength in numbers. Because we are essentially fighting the same battle: we just have different sufferings. 

Fear should not be what stops us, but rather what guides us to betterment and change.

- Alessandra Colon, Chiropractic Physician, Palm Beach, Florida