Stephen Garcia said Wednesday he has been diagnosed with Stage 4 colorectal cancer and has started chemotherapy. He posted the news on Facebook and included a GoFundMe link to help pay for treatment.
Garcia wrote that he was not overly excited to share the news, but said his doctors and staff believe they can beat it. He also urged people to get checked when they do not feel 100%, and thanked supporters with a blunt message: they have this.
Maria Garcia said the diagnosis came after a few days in the emergency room and a series of tests that included MRIs and CT scans. The medical team is starting him on FOLFIRINOX, and after the first rounds of treatment he will meet with specialized liver and colon surgeons to decide the next steps.
For South Carolina fans, the announcement lands hard because Garcia was once one of the most electric quarterbacks in the program’s modern history. From 2007 to 2011, he compiled a 20-14 record as a starter, passed for 7,507 yards and 41 touchdowns, and ran for 777 yards and 15 scores.
His college career was uneven as well as productive. Garcia was suspended five times and was dismissed from the football program midway through his final season of eligibility, but his best stretches left a mark that still travels through Gamecock circles.
That started to show in the fall of 2008, when he started three games and was named SEC Freshman of the Week after throwing for 169 yards and a touchdown in one half of a 24-17 win over Kentucky. By 2009, he had four 300-yard passing games and two wins over Top-25 opponents as South Carolina finished 9-5, won the SEC East title and ended the season ranked No. 22 in both the and Coaches polls. In 2010, Garcia passed for 3,059 yards with 20 touchdowns and 14 interceptions.
The tension in his message is plain: he is facing a serious diagnosis, but he is already moving into treatment and asking others not to ignore symptoms of their own. For a player long defined by volatility on the field and around the program, this is now a different kind of test, and the next measure will be how he responds to the first rounds of chemotherapy and the surgeries that follow.