Triple Negative Survivor Story: Josie Garcia

Josie Garcia of Sacramento, California, shared her two-year survival story and positive personal philosophy—after a diagnosis of stage III triple negative—in the Sacramento Press:

Every day we hear of survival stories that stretch as far as distant, war-torn countries. Closer to home, we hear the story of the immigrant, of those rooted in our impoverished neighborhoods, of those affected by the current recession.

Survival is an opportunity at the turn of every day. For the sound-minded, those opportunities rank upwards till reaching the most important meaning for us: life. A life-threatening opportunity is when life grabs hold of your soul and knocks your senses so straight you never realized there was more to life in the "most" way.

Welcome to my survival story, one that has become more common due to medical breakthroughs and outreach. I am a breast cancer survivor. Just before the summer of 2007, at the age of 39, and as a single Mom to a 2-year-old boy, I received a shocking diagnosis: Stage III, triple negative breast cancer, tumor range six to nine centimeters with three enlarged lymph nodes.  Read more