I started following Alondra Gibson on Instagram and immediately found myself invested in her story. Maybe it was because nothing about it seemed to add up. How does a woman in her early 30s — a certified nutritionist, kettlebell coach, yoga teacher, and someone who had devoted the last few years to becoming the healthiest version of herself — end up with Stage 4 colon cancer? The Dominican Republic-born wellness coach was asking herself the same question as she faced this diagnosis while building a business centered on healthy living.
She's been documenting it all on social media, and her followers (including me!) are multiplying because of her extraordinary honesty, vulnerability, and hope. I connected with Alondra to discuss a disease we both know all too well and what she wants to share with others in her position.
Katie: I started following your journey on Instagram and so appreciate you sharing your experience. Tell me a bit about yourself and your relationship to your health. What was your state of mind when you discovered you had cancer?
Alondra Gibson: I was born in the Dominican Republic and came to the U.S. when I was six years old. I worked in corporate for about 10 years — in finance, sales, and human resources/recruiting — until I quit in 2024 because I was truly unhappy with myself physically and mentally. I felt constantly drained from thinking about work and putting in over 40 hours every week. I decided to focus on my health, and that journey led me to become a certified nutritionist, a kettlebell coach, and a yoga teacher.
I took the last two years to travel and reconnect with myself. I went deep into self-help work — reading Dr. Joe Dispenza, doing somatic therapy, even completing a five-hour meditation to connect more deeply with myself. Since then, my husband and I have built our own business together, helping people find complete freedom in movement, nutrition, and mindset.
Right before I was diagnosed, my husband and I were planning out 2026 and made the biggest decision of our lives — to move across the country and start fresh in a new environment.
As for my state of mind, I was trying to figure things out. We were dreaming big and wanted to truly focus on building our business and our online presence. I was a bit out of it because of the symptoms I was experiencing. I hadn't been able to work out, and physically I felt constrained — but mentally I was still pushing forward.
Can you describe your symptoms, what you were experiencing, and how you, understandably, dismissed some early signs?
In June 2025, my grandma passed away, and that's when I truly started feeling a lot of the symptoms. Because she had dementia, all of her granddaughters and daughters took turns staying the night with her, and when it was my turn, it would take me days to recover from one bad night of sleep. I also started experiencing stomach issues — diarrhea, abdominal pain — but I assumed it was stress, plus I wasn't eating or sleeping the way I normally did.
In the middle of all of that, I had just finished a very physically demanding kettlebell certification, so I told myself my body just needed time to recover. Right after that, I left for Indonesia to complete my yoga teacher training, which was an adjustment in itself. I had a lot of abdominal pain while I was there, but I chalked it up to all the changes — traveling, being in a completely new country.
While I was in Bali, I also studied Ayurveda — the traditional Indian system of healing that focuses on balancing the body through food, herbs, breath, and lifestyle. So I was trying lots of different teas and herbs for digestion, with the help of one of my teachers/mentors, and they did help relieve the pain. When I got back from traveling, I basically did a full detox and even saw a holistic Chinese medicine doctor and did a 14-day tea detox. But by the time the holidays came around, the abdominal pain had become unbearable — to the point where we had to come home early from visiting my in-laws.
The irony is, you were very healthy, in very good shape, and getting in even better shape. What was motivating you at the time?
The biggest reason for all of it was that I wanted to create a healthy vessel for when I became a mom. That was the ultimate goal. I wanted to get in the best shape of my life before becoming a mother — to have a solid workout routine and a capable body, so that I could potentially have a natural birth and do that more than once.
What made you finally go to the doctor?
I had tried everything, and the abdominal pain just became unbearable. The flight to my in-laws was insane, and it was now interrupting my daily life.
I can only imagine the shock you felt when you got your diagnosis. If it’s not too retraumatizing, can you take me back to that day?
I went in for a colonoscopy, which I had requested. I actually have videos of myself walking to the appointment, sitting in the waiting room, and even after the procedure — because yes, I still update my mom about everything.
I remember overhearing the doctor giving results to other patients in the little area next to me, but for some reason, one of the nurses kept asking me where my husband was. In my head, I thought, "I guess everything is OK since the doctor doesn't need to talk to me." Then my husband arrived. The nurse came to get me, but instead of taking me to the front, she walked me to a little room. That's where I bumped into my husband as they were bringing him back, and the two of us went into this little room together.
I looked at him, and right when I sat down, the doctor came in — and that's when it hit me that something was wrong. He told us I needed surgery as soon as possible because my colon was almost fully obstructed, and that he couldn't tell where it had spread because he hadn't been able to get the camera through to see the other side.
You froze your eggs and have talked about that on social media. What have you learned about this process?
Freezing my eggs was one of the hardest parts of this whole process. This entire journey began because I wanted to become a mom, so that part hit deep.
What I learned is that egg freezing is expensive, there aren't many resources for women considering it, and most insurance doesn't cover it. The process also looks different for every single person. I remember walking in for blood work and ultrasounds and seeing the doctor's office completely FILLED with women. There are so many of us going through this, and it's just not talked about enough.
I saw recently that you got some good news from your doctor, and it made me teary. You were crying tears of relief. Tell us what you learned and what it means.
I was staged down — I went from Stage 4 to Stage 3. There was a 90 percent chance the cancer had spread to my liver because of a metastasis sitting fairly close to the cancerous lymph node. Even now, we still don't know exactly what my liver was fighting, but I truly believe my liver was fighting back. I have a referral to see an infectious disease specialist, but I haven't had the chance to go yet because of everything else this process involves. To this day, we aren't exactly sure what my liver was up against — but it held the line.
Something my mom said to me early on has stayed with me through every step of this: "This is just a parenthesis in your life." That has become the way I choose to see all of it.
As you’ve said as you’ve chronicled your journey, colorectal cancer is on the rise among young people. It’s really a mystery as to why, and it may be a confluence of factors. What do you think the potential causes are?
I believe we live in a society that keeps pushing unhealthy products onto its own people. These days, you can't even trust labels that say "organic" or "pasture-raised" because the guidelines for manufacturers just don't add up. The clothes we wear, the food we eat. And for me specifically, I lived in NYC for over seven years, and the air there is polluted. The city needs to pay more attention to the air quality.
I also think we're not getting to the root of many of our health issues. Western medicine is built around treatment, stepping in once we can no longer manage on our own, and we've already reached a point of no return. We're not taught how to eat or how to take care of ourselves preventatively. Instead, we're pushed fast food in every possible commercial, and then we wonder why so many of us are getting sick so young.
Have you connected with other young colon cancer patients through social media, and has it been helpful?
Yes, I have. I've met many other women and men who are walking alongside me on this journey. It's been incredibly helpful because we share information and give each other hope — and hope is the most important thing for me right now.
Why do you feel it’s so important to share your experience with others?
I believe we can all work together to provide comfort in this chapter of our lives. I've been inspiring people to go get checked, to get that colonoscopy — and if I can help even one person, this entire process was worth it.
I'm building a community of warriors who won't let this bring them down. That's also why I decided to start my own foundation: The Luna Legacy Foundation was created to provide direct support, hope, and dignity to individuals and families navigating cancer, unexpected life changes, and personal hardships. We're currently working on getting all the paperwork in place so we can begin raising and providing funds.
If I can show people that you can still have hope — that your cancer journey doesn't have to look the way people picture cancer looking — we can be happy, we can be joyful, we can be hopeful. We all want to LIVE. That's the message: Let's learn to listen to our bodies, let's learn to connect our minds and our bodies, and even if you're going through this, you can have a positive outlook without fear.
