08/22/2026
Full Circle
Nearly 36 years ago, a chiropractor changed the direction of my life.
Today, I got to stand beside him and thank him.
At the Tennessee Chiropractic Association’s Southern Chiropractic Conference, I had the incredible privilege of reconnecting with Dr. Jerry Anderson—the chiropractor who treated me back in 1990.
I was a ninth-grade basketball player when I suffered a significant back injury during a game. Because of the severity of the injury, I was facing the serious possibility of needing to undergo spinal fusion surgery.
I was just a kid!
Thankfully, my Mom took me to see Dr. Anderson, instead.
He treated me, helped me avoid surgery, and got me back on the basketball court about a week later without the debilitating pain I had been experiencing. I finished the season and continued to play other sports without limitations.
But as meaningful as that physical recovery was, there is something else I remember all these years later.
I remember how Dr. Anderson made me feel.
There’s a saying that goes, “People may forget what you say, people may forget what you do, but they will never forget how you made them feel.”
I don’t remember every word Dr. Anderson said to me when I was 14 years old.
But I remember how I felt when I was in his care.
I felt hopeful.
I felt like someone believed there was another option.
I felt like I mattered.
And I believe that feeling is one of the reasons his impact stayed with me long after my back had healed.
Looking back now, I realize that Dr. Anderson didn’t just help a ninth-grade basketball player avoid surgery.
He changed the trajectory of my life.
That experience planted a seed that eventually led me to become a chiropractor. I went on to become a physical therapist and chiropractor, and I was honored to graduate as valedictorian of my chiropractic class.
Today, I have the privilege of practicing at the Upper Cervical Spine Center in Nashville, where I get to care for people who are often coming to me with their own stories, their own fears, and their own hopes.
And this is where the story comes full circle for me.
Because now I understand that what we do as doctors is about more than techniques, adjustments, procedures, or even outcomes.
It’s about how we make people feel while they’re in our care.
Dr. Anderson may not have known it at the time, but the way he treated me as a young patient became part of the doctor I wanted to become.
Today, nearly 36 years later, I had the privilege of standing beside the man who helped set that journey in motion.
I’m incredibly grateful.
Dr. Anderson, thank you for what you did for me!
Thank you for giving me another path when surgery seemed like the only option.
Thank you for helping me get back on the basketball court.
But most of all, thank you for how you made me feel.
And thank you for unknowingly showing a 14-year-old kid what it means to make a difference in someone’s life.
Some things come full circle.
Today was one of those moments.
