Former South Carolina quarterback Stephen Garcia’s wife provided an update this week on his battle with Stage 4 colorectal cancer following his first surgery.
In a social media update on Tuesday, his wife, Masha, wrote that “Stephen is out of surgery. In the ICU. Surgeon called and said all the cancer is out.”
In a follow-up post, she clarified what she had meant when she said that the cancer was out.
“I said the cancer is out. Stephen has stage 4 cancer and is not officially cancer free. It’s going to be a long journey with surveillance. Thank you for your love and prayers,” she said.
Masha followed it up with a third post, where she revealed that the “surgical team confirmed that they achieved a complete resection, successfully removing the cancer and leaving him with No Evidence of Disease.”
She also indicated that the ex-South Carolina QB had been moved from the ICU to a post-operative recovery room.
Garcia, 38, announced his cancer diagnosis in May, and he wrote in a Facebook post that he had a “great team of doctors” who were “confident we can beat this!”
He was diagnosed in April and began chemotherapy in early May, going through six rounds of chemo and radiation in order to shrink the tumor and keep it from spreading beyond the liver.
Garcia had played at South Carolina from 2008 to 2011 and finished his collegiate career with 7,597 passing yards and 47 touchdowns. His best season came in 2010, when he threw for 3,059 yards and 20 touchdowns for the Gamecocks.
That same season, he helped lead the Gamecocks to their only SEC Championship game appearance.
Amid the cancer battle, Garcia’s family launched the Quarterback Your Health foundation, which supports other people with cancer and helps make early detection more accessible.
