When Alexis Doll was 15, her life changed forever. After months of persistent pain in her right knee, she was diagnosed with osteosarcoma, a type of bone cancer. She was referred to the Peckham Center for Cancer & Blood Disorders at Rady Children’s Hospital San Diego, where she underwent a successful course of chemotherapy.
Her experience, though daunting, inspired her to pursue a career in medicine. She returned to Rady Children’s as a resident physician, and today, is completing her fellowship in the Hospital’s hematology/oncology unit. She now works alongside some of the same physicians, nurses and staff who once cared for her.
“They truly became part of my everyday life and felt like family during my treatment,” she says. “It’s inspiring to be part of the team that once cared for me, and it reminds me every day of the profound impact health care providers can have on their patients’ lives.”
Here, she shares her thoughts on inspiration, aspiration and the power of community.
When you look back at being 15 and receiving your diagnosis, what moment or feeling stands out most to you today?
What stands out most is the sudden loss of certainty and the overwhelming fear that my life could be taken from me. In that instant, my sense of time, my body and my control over the future all felt stripped away. I feared that cancer would take everything I hoped for and dreamed of.
Looking back now, I realize I was wrong. Becoming a mother, marrying the love of my life, advocating for osteosarcoma while connecting with families, researchers and children, traveling with my closest friends and pursuing my dream from residency to fellowship at Rady Children’s are the moments that define me. That fear, once so consuming, ultimately gave way to resilience and gratitude, revealing that cancer led me down paths I never imagined, helped me recognize what I truly value and taught me what it means to live fully.
What did it feel like to walk back into Rady Children’s as a resident physician instead of a patient?
It was incredibly surreal and deeply emotional. It felt like a full-circle moment I never could have imagined at 15 when I was undergoing treatment. There was gratitude, humility, and a strong sense of responsibility. I was returning to a place that helped save my life and the health care providers who made a huge impact on my life and career.
Was there a person or moment during your care at Rady Children’s that inspired you to pursue medicine?
This is a challenging question, as there were numerous moments and interactions with my care team that shaped me. However, two in particular stand out.
The first was meeting my three best friends—children who refused to let illness define or limit them. I witnessed how cancer ultimately took their lives and the profound impact their losses had on everyone around them. Watching as they battled cancer with so much strength, courage and unwavering ability to power through, impacted me and forever changed my life. This instilled in me a deep commitment to honor their lives through service to others and to pursue a path to becoming a pediatric oncologist.
The second moment was meeting a physician who truly understood what I was going through. He shared his own experience as a cancer survivor, which became a profound source of comfort knowing he had walked a similar path. That connection showed me the power of empathy in medicine and helped me realize that lived experience can be a source of strength, healing and hope. It was at that moment that I knew I wanted to become the kind of doctor who could offer that same understanding to others.
What would you want a young patient facing a cancer diagnosis—and their family—to know?
I would want them to know that they are not alone, and that support exists even in the moments when everything feels overwhelming and uncertain. It’s so important to lean on the people around you during this journey. I could not have gotten through it without my family and the other cancer patients and families who became like a second family to me. Being able to talk openly with people who truly understood, through support groups and shared experiences, made an enormous difference. Just as important was being able to still do things outside of cancer, to hold on to pieces of normal life and remember that I was more than my diagnosis.