Graciela Guzman

“If you are facing a cancer diagnosis, please allow yourself to feel all of your feelings. Then, turn to your loved ones for help. Nobody should fight cancer alone.”

Graciela Guzman was in a busy season of her life and had given zero thought to slowing down. It was the start of a new school year as a teacher, her daughter was on the school dance team, her son was graduating from college, and she’d soon be celebrating her 25th wedding anniversary with her husband Rafael. “My life was a fairytale,” she said.

Everything changed when Graciela went in for her first screening mammogram. Concerned that her dense breast tissue may potentially be masking a tumor, her doctor ordered a biopsy on her left breast. She went to hear her results during her lunch hour, certain they would be negative. “When the doctor walked into the room and asked, ‘Where is your family?’ my heart sank into my stomach. These four words marked the beginning of the most challenging time of my life.” She was diagnosed with stage 2 breast cancer, and life as she knew it was halted.

Graciela’s treatment involved a mastectomy and removal of nearby lymph nodes, followed by chemotherapy, and, because her tumor was HER2 positive, the “targeted therapy” Herceptin. “The toughest days of my cancer journey were somehow made lighter by my husband’s love,” she says, noting that they were able to make alternate vacation plans for their anniversary when long-distance travel was not feasible during treatment. “Rafael always found ways to make sure I was present to enjoy my life, despite the cancer.”

In 2022, Graciela’s cancer returned. It was caught early enough that this time she did not require chemotherapy after surgery.

Throughout it all, Graciela and her husband leaned on their “village” of family and friends to get them through. “They made sure we both had everything we needed to not only survive but thrive,” she says. Graciela learned that it’s okay to slow down and ask for an assist when she needs it.

“I’ve had to accept the fact that I need help in a few more aspects of my life than before cancer,” she says. “There is no shame in this, and I’ve embraced this new me.”

Today, Graciela is a survivor who believes cancer research saved her life: “Cancer research is important because it directly saves lives—I am living proof. I survived cancer in 2017 and again in 2022 thanks in big part to medical advancements stemming from continuous cancer research.”

Graciela stands up for herself and aims to inspire hope by telling her story.

Stand Up To Cancer raises awareness and funds research to detect and treat cancers with the aspiration to cure all patients. Find out how you can get involved.