{"id":356624,"date":"2026-06-11T19:07:17","date_gmt":"2026-06-11T19:07:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/356624\/"},"modified":"2026-06-11T19:07:17","modified_gmt":"2026-06-11T19:07:17","slug":"because-of-not-in-spite-of","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/356624\/","title":{"rendered":"Because Of, Not In Spite Of"},"content":{"rendered":"

A surfing accident could have ended Dr. Hoa Le\u2019s medical career. Instead, it became the cornerstone of a medical practice built on compassion.<\/p>\n

It only took a few seconds for a surfing accident to change the entire trajectory of Dr. Hoa Le\u2019s life. One moment he was 28 years old, in the middle of his residency at Loma Linda University \u2014 a newlywed enjoying his honeymoon with his wife Jennifer, also an MD. The next, he was a paraplegic with an uncertain future.<\/p>\n

The accident happened during a surfing lesson. He fell, but kept going. Then, 45 minutes later, something felt wrong. \u201cI remember that was the last time I had any sensation in my legs.\u201d<\/p>\n

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By the time they made it to shore, he couldn\u2019t stand up. He collapsed on the beach and was taken to the hospital. As he lay in the ER, hazy with morphine, he heard the doctor say that his neurological exam \u201cdidn\u2019t look good.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI knew enough,\u201d said Le. \u201cI was like, shoot.\u201d<\/p>\n

Le could have let the injury define his future. Instead, he decided not to give up \u2014 and gave himself a deadline to return to practicing medicine. Today, 23 years later, Dr. Hoa Le is Kaiser Santa Clara\u2019s GI oncology lead and co-founder of the Kaiser Santa Clara Disability Alliance. He plays wheelchair tennis and runs a nonprofit<\/a> called REACH Career Mentoring for children with disabilities.<\/p>\n

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The Long Road Back<\/p>\n

After spending time in the ICU, he flew back to California. Following six weeks of acute rehabilitation \u2014 \u201cthey teach you enough to get by and send you home,\u201d as he describes it \u2014 he returned to a future that would be nothing like what he had planned.<\/p>\n

For a year, Le says, his disability dominated every waking minute. Not just adapting to a wheelchair, but adapting to suddenly becoming someone different.<\/p>\n

His marriage jumped into a new reality, and every step of the way Jennifer was at his side, even as she was building a pediatrics practice. \u201cWe went from 28 to 50 in one fell swoop.\u201d What held them together, he says, was friendship. \u201cWhen you first get into a relationship it\u2019s all roses. But what really keeps you by someone\u2019s side is that you\u2019re good friends.\u201d<\/p>\n

His first anniversary became a turning point. \u201cI remember thinking: it\u2019s been a year. What now? Time is just going to keep flying by.\u201d He made the decision to return to his residency on September 1st \u2014 no exceptions, no escape clauses.<\/p>\n

\u201cI made the deadline in my mind and in my heart,\u201d he said. \u201c[And told myself] you\u2019re coming back on this date, no matter what.\u201d<\/p>\n

A New Identity<\/p>\n

\u201cI was a new me and I didn\u2019t know how my friends and colleagues would perceive me,\u201d he said. \u201cI didn\u2019t know how to perceive myself. When I looked in the mirror, I was finding a new identity.\u201d<\/p>\n

When Le told a Loma Linda rehab doctor that he intended to specialize in oncology, the doctor replied, \u201cOh, that\u2019s good \u2014 you don\u2019t have to be very physical to do that.\u201d It was \u201cincredibly insensitive,\u201d Le says.<\/p>\n

Returning to medicine meant relearning things he thought he knew. \u201cHow was I going to practice medicine and be a doctor? I remember thinking, there was no course for this, there was no mentorship for this.\u201d Reinvention was constant.<\/p>\n

\u201cNow I had to scope out a room and say, \u2018Can you put the exam table like this so that I can roll up?’\u201d he explained. \u201cEverything was trial by fire.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve rolled into rooms and people said, \u2018When\u2019s the real doctor coming?’\u201d he recalled. \u201cMy wife has told me women have similar experiences in medicine. Now, I understand.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lessons Only a Patient Can Teach<\/p>\n

Being a patient taught Le an important lesson that no medical school teaches. \u201cMy very worst days \u2014 the days where I was angry and throwing things and didn\u2019t want to see anybody \u2014 the only people I did want to see were my nurse and my physical therapist. It was how they cared for you as a person that counted.\u201d<\/p>\n

That experience led Le to co-found the Kaiser Santa Clara Disability Alliance with a cardiovascular surgeon whose daughter has a disability. His larger effort is REACH Career Mentoring, which connects people with disabilities to career mentors who share their experience.<\/p>\n

Le and Jennifer return again and again to one question: how much of who they are is because of, not in spite of, everything they have been through?<\/p>\n

\u201cI absolutely think that I am who I am right now, today, because of everything \u2014 not in spite of, but because of,\u201d Le says. \u201cAnd it\u2019s a beautiful thing.\u201d<\/p>\n

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