University of San Francisco Nursing Student Brenda Garcia sat at Sutter Health in San Francisco for another round of invasive and taxing chemotherapy. The chair beneath her just a short walk away from where she had been interning regularly in the labor and delivery wing.
Brenda, 27, moved from the small town of Fortuna in Humboldt County, California to San Francisco once she was accepted into the nursing program at USF. She had completed her first semester as a nursing student before she took medical leave in response to a breast cancer diagnosis on July 12, 2017, that left her spinning.
At the time, Brenda got a biopsy on a bump located in her armpit that she assumed was an ingrown hair.
“I didn’t think anything of it. It started out the size of a jellybean and grew to the size of an egg,” Brenda holds her hands out to form a circle and demonstrates the size difference and expansion, her eyes widening in surprise, like she’s making that comparison for the very first time.
At the start of the semester, Brenda was a typical college student, spending most of her time at the beach or reading in coffee shops. That was before she received a phone call while sitting in a lecture hall on USF’s campus that triggered her to leave her belongings behind and beeline to the door.
“They told me right there on the phone that I had breast cancer. I had to go back in the classroom to grab my things.”
While her mom sits quietly beside her, Brenda recalls the urgency in her treatment timeline. Brenda explains that her port surgery and first chemo treatment all began within one week of diagnosis.
“My mom comes down every time I have chemo. Telling her I have cancer was the hardest thing I’ve ever done. When they told me I had cancer, I didn’t cry. But when I had to tell my mom…I cried. I had to call everyone in my family and both my mom and dad have 10 siblings each. I had to tell them before they found out from someone else. We live in a small town, so if I didn’t tell them, someone else would have.”
Brenda’s last day of chemo was December 7, 2017.
“I am glad it happened here in San Francisco because the services here are so much better than back home. There is no Open Hand in Fortuna.”
Brenda has been receiving groceries and nutrition services from Project Open Hand for six months. Upon moving to San Francisco, she was financially relying on her student loans, but because she had to take a medical leave, she lost that resource.
“Coming to the grocery center has really helped me; I don’t have to worry about food nearly as much and Project Open Hand has helped me maintain a healthy diet with limited resources.”
Scheduled to return to nursing school in May, 2018, Brenda is optimistic, despite being set back by three semesters.
“I don’t know what kind of nurse I want to be just yet, but I’m thinking oncology now.”
No doubt, Brenda has been in the trenches, battling fatigue, hot flashes, the stigma of hair loss and so much more, but she never seems to stray from the serene, and almost harmonious manner in which she speaks. Every fiber in her body seems patient with her progress, ensuring everyone around her that she’s going to be okay.