A Pancreatic Cancer Survivor Takes a Flying Leap
In 2014, 21-year-old Manuel Garcia decided to put skydiving on hold. Jumping out of airplanes costs a lot of money. And his plan to take up BASE jumping? He’d table that for a while too. With 81 leaps under his belt, Garcia paused his passion for parachuting until he could afford his own gear.
Five years after he grounded himself, Garcia began to experience sharp, stabbing abdominal pain, nausea and severe weight loss. After an ultrasound revealed liver problems, he checked into a Miami-area hospital, where he was diagnosed with stage 4 cancer.
“On Good Friday,” he says. At first, they couldn’t tell what kind of cancer it was, but they saw that it had spread to his liver. Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center offered a diagnosis on Easter Sunday — it was stage 4 metastatic pancreatic cancer.
“I had a mass the size of a golf ball and more tumors than they could count in my liver,” he says. The cancer had also spread to Garcia’s spine, and he had two small brain tumors. “Needless to say, it was a mess. They couldn’t decide whether I should go into chemotherapy or hospice.”
Facing mortality
At Sylvester, Garcia saw Peter Hosein, M.D., associate director for clinical research at the Sylvester Pancreatic Cancer Research Institute. Not only had the cancer spread too far for surgery to be an option, but there was concern that Garcia was too weak to handle chemotherapy. “Dr. Hosein said all he could do is give me the chemotherapy watered down to 25% strength,” says Garcia. “That was the only shot we had left.”
The diluted chemotherapy began to work. After three months, Garcia switched to immunotherapy. “I was on that for about two years,” he says. “I actually got my first clean scan on New Year’s Eve, nine months after starting immunotherapy!” A few months in, he had a recurrence. “Not a huge deal,” he says. “They zapped it with radiation.”
While undergoing treatment, Garcia revisited his decision to put skydiving on hold. “I was 26, and I was told I was dying,” he says.
I remember explaining to my best friend Chris, I know I’m not gonna die; I know I can beat this.
– Manuel Garcia
In May of 2020, midway through his cancer treatment, he obtained his first parachute rig. Two years later, he started BASE jumping.
Today, at age 31, Garcia has been cancer-free for five years. He works at his family’s business, representing manufacturers of high-end decorative plumbing. And he’s back in the sky, leaping out of airplanes again—and off cliffs and bridges, too.
He now has 575 skydives and 50 BASE jumps under his belt.
Finding support
When he was sick, Garcia found strong support among friends and family.
Aunts, uncles, cousins — everyone in his life came together to give him strength and help keep him optimistic. “It was difficult for my parents,” he says, “despite my naive optimism and my confidence.”
People going through cancer need love and support from friends, family, and community, says Garcia. “And you have to be an advocate for your own care and find the best place, the best doctor who has the treatment you need.”
Outside of work, skydiving and BASE jumping, Garcia volunteers for the American Cancer Society, the Seena Magowitz Foundation and Sylvester’s Adolescent and Young Adult Program for cancer survivors between the ages of 15-39. He continues to make time for skydiving.
“My doctors and my family often ask me why,” he says. “The main reason is it’s something that was very important to me that I left pending. It’s my current hopes and dreams. The whole house and kids, family and mortgage seem nice, but right now, what I want is to fly.”
Louis Greenstein is a contributor for Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center.
Tags: Dr. Peter Hosein, Family support during cancer, Immunotherapy for pancreatic cancer, patient story, Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center, Young adult cancer survivors
