Long before he was Dr. Hector DeLeon — pediatrician, Chair of the Board for the Colorado Permanente Medical Group, husband and father of four — he was a little boy in the backseat of a taxicab, watching his world change.
He doesn’t remember every detail of that day, but he’ll never forget the feeling: his mother’s urgency, the four of them crammed into the cab and the unknown that waited on the other side of a brave escape.
They were leaving behind a life that had become dangerous. Dr. DeLeon was born in the McAllen, Texas and raised along the U.S.-Mexico border, in a family that straddled two countries and countless challenges. His mother was just 16 when she had her first child. She was trying to raise four children while living with addiction, instability and domestic violence. Then, one day, she decided enough was enough.
She gathered her children, hailed a cab and fled.
They ended up at a shelter for women and children — a place of safety, yes, but also the first flicker of hope. “I’ve lived it. I’ve seen it,” Dr. DeLeon says. “I know what shelter life is like.”
That experience would become a defining moment in his life — and years later, a driving force behind his decision to support Samaritan House Fort Collins.
“It could have been a story of becoming a victim of life,” he says. Instead, it turned out with a beautiful ending.
His mother, through grit and determination, slowly rebuilt their lives. She returned to school in South Texas, became a nurse’s aide, then a phlebotomist and eventually earned her nursing license. Her journey — from a frightened young mother seeking shelter to a healthcare professional — left an indelible mark on her son.
Today, Dr. DeLeon treats children with an extra layer of insight. He is trained to recognize Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs), and when he looks into the eyes of a struggling child, he often sees reflections of his own story. He knows that trauma can be buried deep, and that healing begins with compassion and stability.
“I hope my story gives people some hope to work and be part of the community in life,” he says. “There is a path forward. May it give someone courage.”
Dr. DeLeon’s mother passed away a decade ago from a brain tumor, but her strength lives on in the family she raised — and in the work he does every day.
Through his support of Catholic Charities and Samaritan House Fort Collins, Dr. DeLeon is giving back to the kind of place that gave his family a second chance. He’s helping others find their own turning point — that sacred moment when fear begins to give way to hope.
In every child he treats and every life he touches, Dr. DeLeon is honoring his mother’s legacy — and proving that hope, when nurtured, becomes healing.