Latest / Teach Me Something Hosted By DJ Prostyle & Penny Dellas / Through My Window: A Story of Faith, Resilience & Hope

Transcript

Through My Window: A Story of Faith, Resilience & Hope · Teach Me Something Hosted By DJ Prostyle & Penny Dellas

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Hey, what's up? This is DJ ProStyle.
• 0:02
  Speaker 2: And this is Penny Delas.
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: And this is Teach Me Something.
• 0:05
  Speaker 2: Brought to you by Berklee College.
• 0:08
  Speaker 1: Okay, ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, guess what?
• 0:10
  Speaker 3: We are back with another episode of Teach Me Something
• 0:12
  Speaker 3: presented by Berklee College.
• 0:14
  Speaker 1: I am ProStyle.
• 0:15
  Speaker 2: I am Penny Delas.
• 0:16
  Speaker 1: How you doing today, Penny?
• 0:17
  Speaker 2: I'm doing great.
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: Which penny do we get today? This is how we
• 0:22
  Speaker 1: start an episode.
• 0:23
  Speaker 2: Is it?
• 0:24
  Speaker 1: Is it?
• 0:24
  Speaker 4: Yes.
• 0:25
  Speaker 1: Liam, I'm going to cut this out.
• 0:26
  Speaker 2: We're going to keep it in.
• 0:26
  Speaker 1: No, we're keeping all this in. We're going to keep
• 0:28
  Speaker 1: it in. I'm actually doing great. I want the same energy.
• 0:30
  Speaker 1: How are you feeling today? Are you good?
• 0:31
  Speaker 4: Yeah.
• 0:31
  Speaker 1: Are you having a little coffee to get the episode started?
• 0:34
  Speaker 2: A little cafecito.
• 0:34
  Speaker 1: You didn't offer any coffee. A little cafecito. I came
• 0:36
  Speaker 1: in here with.
• 0:37
  Speaker 3: You gave your lungs away. There was some water here
• 0:39
  Speaker 3: that were... But we'll get into that conversation.
• 0:41
  Speaker 2: We'll get into that at another moment.
• 0:42
  Speaker 1: How the water looked, thanks to our guy over here.
• 0:46
  Speaker 2: Yeah, but listen, we're excited. There's a lot of things
• 0:49
  Speaker 2: going on this beautiful month of October, aside from Halloween,
• 0:53
  Speaker 2: which something cool is coming next week. So definitely tune
• 0:56
  Speaker 2: in for next week. But for this week, we are
• 1:00
  Speaker 2: highlighting Breast Cancer Awareness Month.
• 1:02
  Speaker 1: Such an important month.
• 1:03
  Speaker 2: Such an important month. Such important stories. And it is
• 1:07
  Speaker 2: an honor and a privilege to have the guest that
• 1:10
  Speaker 2: we have today, Rosemary Garcia, who is with us. She
• 1:15
  Speaker 2: is a breast cancer survivor. She's a healthcare professional. She
• 1:19
  Speaker 2: is also an MBA Berkeley College student as well as
• 1:24
  Speaker 2: an author. Wow. She just published her memoir, Through My Window,
• 1:29
  Speaker 2: where she shares her journey.
• 1:32
  Speaker 1: Incredible. Well, thank you. Thank you. And thank you again
• 1:35
  Speaker 1: for joining us today.
• 1:37
  Speaker 4: Thank you for the opportunity.
• 1:39
  Speaker 1: Yes, of course.
• 1:40
  Speaker 2: I'm really excited to be here. How was the travel,
• 1:43
  Speaker 2: and it was good?
• 1:44
  Speaker 4: It was good, except for my nerves, but it was good.
• 1:48
  Speaker 1: You're nervous?
• 1:49
  Speaker 4: A little bit, yes.
• 1:50
  Speaker 3: No, this is not the show to be nervous on.
• 1:52
  Speaker 3: I'm nervous every time I come here. I have to,
• 1:54
  Speaker 3: you know, sit next to this one.
• 1:55
  Speaker 4: Yeah, you know, it's a little pressure.
• 1:57
  Speaker 2: But now, mira, estamos en casa, estamos conversando, and, you know,
• 2:02
  Speaker 2: welcome to our humble home here at iHeart headquarters in
• 2:05
  Speaker 2: New York City.
• 2:06
  Speaker 4: Thank you.
• 2:07
  Speaker 2: So, let's... with gratitude. We appreciate you coming and sharing
• 2:18
  Speaker 2: such a personal and vulnerable part of your life. I
• 2:22
  Speaker 2: know it's not easy to share in a public format,
• 2:26
  Speaker 2: but we appreciate you being here in our safe space.
• 2:30
  Speaker 2: We may cry together today. We may laugh together today.
• 2:34
  Speaker 2: When you reflect on your journey, what do you want
• 2:39
  Speaker 2: people to understand?
• 2:42
  Speaker 4: Well, thank you again for the opportunity. When I reflect
• 2:45
  Speaker 4: on my journey, I want people to understand that cancer
• 2:49
  Speaker 4: goes beyond diagnosis and treatment. It also affects your identity,
• 2:56
  Speaker 4: your emotions, and your relationships. So I want people to
• 3:01
  Speaker 4: understand that cancer may be scary, but But it doesn't
• 3:09
  Speaker 4: have to take away who you are. That's why I
• 3:13
  Speaker 4: roll through my window. That's beautiful. Thank you.
• 3:20
  Speaker 2: Let's get into the experience, the strength, and the perseverance, right?
• 3:27
  Speaker 2: As much as you want to share. Let's talk about
• 3:31
  Speaker 2: Rosemary before.
• 3:35
  Speaker 4: Rosemary before.
• 3:36
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 3:37
  Speaker 4: So before, I was truly happy. I am, but just
• 3:43
  Speaker 4: a different version of me. I'm married. I have kids.
• 3:49
  Speaker 4: I was being successful at my workplace, where I love
• 3:54
  Speaker 4: to work. I am a Berkeley College graduate. So all
• 4:02
  Speaker 4: my life we were together, and ironically, I thought I
• 4:07
  Speaker 4: was in my heritage stage of my life, because since
• 4:11
  Speaker 4: I was a little kid, I was going back and
• 4:14
  Speaker 4: forth from hospital. I even finished high school at home,
• 4:18
  Speaker 4: because I was very sick. So, yes, one year before cancer,
• 4:25
  Speaker 4: I was very happy, because I was, for me, I
• 4:29
  Speaker 4: was on my heritage stage. I was months from cancer.
• 4:35
  Speaker 4: out from the hospital, so. I was very happy with
• 4:43
  Speaker 4: my body, with my long hair that was part of
• 4:47
  Speaker 4: me since I born. I always believed I was really
• 4:52
  Speaker 4: beautiful under cancer, shame, everything, including what beauty mean to me.
• 4:57
  Speaker 4: It's okay.
• 5:04
  Speaker 2: Listen, sitting across from you, I see a woman that's inspiring,
• 5:11
  Speaker 2: that is vulnerable, that's strong, that's persevering, and that's beautiful.
• 5:19
  Speaker 4: Oh my God, thank you.
• 5:22
  Speaker 2: That's what I see. Liam's back with the tissues. Thank you, Liam.
• 5:28
  Speaker 4: Thank you.
• 5:30
  Speaker 2: And you spoke about... transitions right and yes dealing with
• 5:37
  Speaker 2: navigating those transitions and maybe what you felt wasn't who
• 5:45
  Speaker 2: you thought you were right and how you resonate with
• 5:48
  Speaker 2: that and we're going to pivot a little bit into
• 5:52
  Speaker 2: the support system that it takes to to back you
• 5:55
  Speaker 2: up and i'm going to pass it over to pro
• 5:56
  Speaker 2: yeah you're a family man.
• 5:57
  Speaker 3: Here that's right it's all about family right your memoir
• 6:00
  Speaker 3: speaks about the importance of faith family and love during
• 6:03
  Speaker 3: some of your most vulnerable moments. Who or what helped
• 6:07
  Speaker 3: you find strength on the difficult days, and what did
• 6:12
  Speaker 3: the experience teach you about the importance of having people
• 6:15
  Speaker 3: in your corner?
• 6:18
  Speaker 4: Honestly, people underestimate how important it is to have a
• 6:24
  Speaker 4: system of support. For me, it was my parents, my husband,
• 6:32
  Speaker 4: my kids, my siblings, my family, my friends, my college
• 6:36
  Speaker 4: from Berkeley and from my workplace at NYU. But it
• 6:41
  Speaker 4: was also the people who don't know me personally, like
• 6:45
  Speaker 4: people from social media. And for me having so much
• 6:51
  Speaker 4: support in my journey, even I was the one who
• 6:55
  Speaker 4: carried the diagnosis, having so much people to share my fears,
• 7:00
  Speaker 4: my emotions. It made the curry lighter.
• 7:03
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 7:05
  Speaker 4: So a strength before cancer for me was carrying everything
• 7:09
  Speaker 4: at the same time. But after cancer, a strength is
• 7:16
  Speaker 4: keep moving forward, even if you want to cry, even
• 7:19
  Speaker 4: if you're angry or if you just want to give up,
• 7:23
  Speaker 4: you just keep moving forward, even if you're brave in
• 7:27
  Speaker 4: the way. So I just keep moving forward.
• 7:34
  Speaker 1: That's all we could do these days.
• 7:36
  Speaker 3: But having a support system, like you said, is so
• 7:39
  Speaker 3: important in life, in anything. But I can only imagine
• 7:43
  Speaker 3: going through something like that.
• 7:45
  Speaker 1: Yes.
• 7:46
  Speaker 4: Like, when you are on the shirt, getting infusion, chemotherapy,
• 7:52
  Speaker 4: that you know that your body isn't going to be
• 7:55
  Speaker 4: the same anymore, and then you look around and you
• 7:58
  Speaker 4: see your mom, you see your husband, or your friends,
• 8:01
  Speaker 4: or even family that can't just for you from another
• 8:05
  Speaker 4: state or from another country, made you realize that you
• 8:10
  Speaker 4: have to keep fighting.
• 8:11
  Speaker 1: Yeah. They give you that extra strength to push through.
• 8:15
  Speaker 4: Yes.
• 8:17
  Speaker 1: Definitely.
• 8:18
  Speaker 4: Wow.
• 8:19
  Speaker 2: How long have you been in remission?
• 8:22
  Speaker 4: It's going to be one year on December.
• 8:25
  Speaker 2: Congratulations.
• 8:26
  Speaker 4: Thank you so much. Congratulations, definitely. Thank you, thank you.
• 8:30
  Speaker 2: Even through that whole process and being... On this side,
• 8:34
  Speaker 2: you said at the beginning that the journey's not over.
• 8:38
  Speaker 4: No. No.
• 8:39
  Speaker 2: Walk us through what that process looks like after you
• 8:45
  Speaker 2: get that notice, right?
• 8:48
  Speaker 4: The good news, right?
• 8:49
  Speaker 3: Yes.
• 8:51
  Speaker 4: I mean, that's actually a great question. Most of the
• 8:56
  Speaker 4: people think that when the doctor tells you you are
• 9:00
  Speaker 4: in remission, you are cancer-free, and it's not. Just your
• 9:04
  Speaker 4: cancer cells are not active. But for how long?
• 9:08
  Speaker 2: So it goes dormant.
• 9:09
  Speaker 4: Exactly. Until it's not. Exactly. So you don't know where
• 9:14
  Speaker 4: you are. So in my case, because every case is different,
• 9:19
  Speaker 4: in my case, I have to go to my oncologist
• 9:22
  Speaker 4: every three months and I have to get treatment. We
• 9:25
  Speaker 4: call it inactive treatment because it's not chemotherapy, but it
• 9:30
  Speaker 4: is chemotherapy in pills.
• 9:33
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 9:34
  Speaker 1: A pill form.
• 9:34
  Speaker 4: Exactly. It's not as harmful as chemotherapy by infusion, but
• 9:39
  Speaker 4: it does have secondary effect that can switch your life.
• 9:44
  Speaker 4: So after treatment, I get something called neuropathy that affect
• 9:48
  Speaker 4: all my nerves. So most of the time I'm in
• 9:51
  Speaker 4: pain and I just have, I just learned how to
• 9:56
  Speaker 4: live with pain because I want to live. So every
• 10:00
  Speaker 4: time I'm upset because of the pain, I just remind
• 10:03
  Speaker 4: myself that pain for me means I'm alive. And that
• 10:09
  Speaker 4: is how I made my day easier. So I have
• 10:14
  Speaker 4: to take pills every day, and I have to do
• 10:17
  Speaker 4: an injection that blocks my hormone every three months for
• 10:21
  Speaker 4: five years. And besides that, I have to deal with
• 10:26
  Speaker 4: pain every day, joint pains, nerve pains. Sometimes my body
• 10:32
  Speaker 4: doesn't want to stop from bad, but I have to
• 10:34
  Speaker 4: because I have to work. I have to study, and
• 10:37
  Speaker 4: I have a life waiting for me. But because you
• 10:42
  Speaker 4: are in a mission, people may assumption that you may
• 10:47
  Speaker 4: be just telling that you see, but you know, people
• 10:50
  Speaker 4: start to joke on you. Because they don't want to
• 10:55
  Speaker 4: see you so see that you are bad, but they
• 11:00
  Speaker 4: don't understand how you are see and working and a student.
• 11:06
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 11:07
  Speaker 4: But it's not black and white.
• 11:13
  Speaker 1: I'm like, yeah. Well, I mean, such a strong processing. Yeah,
• 11:16
  Speaker 1: of course. Of course.
• 11:17
  Speaker 3: I mean, you're such a strong woman, by the way, because,
• 11:21
  Speaker 3: I mean, you're dealing with so much and you go
• 11:22
  Speaker 3: through so much. So just always remind yourself of that
• 11:25
  Speaker 3: every time, which you do. You know, you have all
• 11:27
  Speaker 3: your reasons and family and support and, you know, and
• 11:30
  Speaker 3: children and everything to remind you of why you're fighting
• 11:35
  Speaker 3: and why you you're in pain every day. And like
• 11:37
  Speaker 3: you said, and you just deal with it and you
• 11:39
  Speaker 3: keep going.
• 11:39
  Speaker 4: So.
• 11:40
  Speaker 1: You know, I applaud you for that. Definitely.
• 11:43
  Speaker 4: Thank you.
• 11:44
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 11:45
  Speaker 2: I mean, yes. No, it's, it's about your story. Like
• 11:51
  Speaker 2: I've spoken about my, my health ailments and you just
• 11:55
  Speaker 2: keep going and you wake up every day and today's
• 12:00
  Speaker 2: a new day and there's a reason for you waking
• 12:03
  Speaker 2: up and opening your eyes and breathing and you just
• 12:05
  Speaker 2: keep trucking along and You did something that many wouldn't,
• 12:11
  Speaker 2: and you wrote a memoir, and you shared your story
• 12:14
  Speaker 2: con pluma y papel on paper. What prompted you to
• 12:21
  Speaker 2: decide to do that?
• 12:23
  Speaker 4: Well, when I went back to my workplace, I was
• 12:28
  Speaker 4: around so many patients that I've been diagnosed with cancer
• 12:32
  Speaker 4: every day, especially breast cancer. And When the situation allowed me,
• 12:41
  Speaker 4: I tried to share a little bit of my own journey,
• 12:43
  Speaker 4: not to compare, but to give them hope and to
• 12:46
  Speaker 4: tell them that cancer doesn't have to change who they are.
• 12:53
  Speaker 4: So seeing those patients crying and seeing motivation, inspiration, and
• 13:01
  Speaker 4: hope through me, I asked myself if I can, just
• 13:07
  Speaker 4: by sharing a little bit about me, if I can
• 13:10
  Speaker 4: change people's hope, if I can give a little hope,
• 13:16
  Speaker 4: why not sharing my book beyond my workplace? So that
• 13:23
  Speaker 4: was one of the main reasons I wrote Through My Window.
• 13:27
  Speaker 1: That's beautiful. How long did it take you to do it?
• 13:29
  Speaker 4: Oh.
• 13:30
  Speaker 1: Was it a long process?
• 13:32
  Speaker 4: It was. It was, especially because... Riding the boat felt
• 13:36
  Speaker 4: like reliving all those moments. It was tough. Yes. I realized,
• 13:42
  Speaker 4: but it was therapeutic as well.
• 13:44
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 13:44
  Speaker 4: Because I realized there were several moments that I just
• 13:49
  Speaker 4: tried to hide it from myself, but I don't heal
• 13:52
  Speaker 4: from that until I was riding the boat. So some
• 13:57
  Speaker 4: days I have to pause to breathe and let my
• 14:01
  Speaker 4: tears flow. Go away.
• 14:03
  Speaker 1: Yeah, of course. And gather yourself.
• 14:05
  Speaker 4: Exactly.
• 14:06
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 14:06
  Speaker 4: So it's a therapeutic process.
• 14:09
  Speaker 3: It is.
• 14:10
  Speaker 2: How did your husband and your kids feel when you said,
• 14:14
  Speaker 2: I want to share the story?
• 14:17
  Speaker 4: They always support me. Even if I say that I'm
• 14:20
  Speaker 4: going to go to another country, they support me.
• 14:23
  Speaker 1: They say, when are we leaving?
• 14:24
  Speaker 4: Yes.
• 14:26
  Speaker 1: Are all our passports good? Yes.
• 14:28
  Speaker 4: Yeah. I'm so thankful for that. But... They told me
• 14:32
  Speaker 4: if I'm ready to do it, why not?
• 14:37
  Speaker 2: That's beautiful. So where can we get the book?
• 14:41
  Speaker 4: Well, I have a few albums coming out. I have
• 14:44
  Speaker 4: received so much support for the book that it's not
• 14:48
  Speaker 4: even published yet. So we can get it at Amazon.
• 14:54
  Speaker 4: But we also maybe can get a Berkeley College library.
• 14:59
  Speaker 4: We're working on that.
• 15:00
  Speaker 1: Nice.
• 15:02
  Speaker 4: Thank you. Also, with me, I, yes, yes, yes, yes.
• 15:09
  Speaker 2: Beautiful. I want to read the book.
• 15:11
  Speaker 4: Of course.
• 15:12
  Speaker 2: I want to read the book.
• 15:13
  Speaker 1: 100%. We have to bring you back to after it's
• 15:15
  Speaker 1: like out.
• 15:16
  Speaker 2: Exactly.
• 15:17
  Speaker 1: I mean, since you brought up Berkeley College.
• 15:18
  Speaker 3: I mean, you are an author, a healthcare professional at NYU,
• 15:23
  Speaker 3: and you're currently pursuing your MBA at Berkeley College.
• 15:26
  Speaker 4: Yes.
• 15:27
  Speaker 3: What inspired you to continue your educational journey and how
• 15:30
  Speaker 3: have your life experiences shaped the goals and dreams that
• 15:34
  Speaker 3: you're working towards today?
• 15:38
  Speaker 4: Honestly, I went back to college since I was doing chemotherapy.
• 15:45
  Speaker 4: People were saying I was crazy, but no. Education for
• 15:51
  Speaker 4: me is essential because it opens so many doors. And
• 15:57
  Speaker 4: after treatment, I wasn't physically able to continue my dream path.
• 16:07
  Speaker 4: So I didn't want to give up, especially because I
• 16:13
  Speaker 4: have a second opportunity already. I decided to do research
• 16:18
  Speaker 4: for MBAs. Why an MBA? Because being a patient and
• 16:25
  Speaker 4: being a Healthcare worker showed me two different versions of
• 16:31
  Speaker 4: the healthcare system. So I decided to pursue my MBA
• 16:36
  Speaker 4: at Berkeley because I can combine my healthcare education and
• 16:41
  Speaker 4: experience with the MBA and go to the operational side
• 16:46
  Speaker 4: and improve patient care.
• 16:47
  Speaker 1: I was going to say, there's probably some things you want.
• 16:50
  Speaker 4: To help fix.
• 16:51
  Speaker 2: Yes.
• 16:52
  Speaker 4: Yes. And going back to Berkeley first, like home, because
• 16:56
  Speaker 4: I did all my education at Berkeley since my associate, certificate, bachelor,
• 17:01
  Speaker 4: and now my MBA. And they've been so supportive with me.
• 17:05
  Speaker 2: So you went from certificate to associate to bachelor and
• 17:09
  Speaker 2: now an MBA.
• 17:10
  Speaker 4: Yes.
• 17:10
  Speaker 2: Me ganaste por uno because I started with the associate.
• 17:12
  Speaker 4: And I'm already thinking on my PhD.
• 17:17
  Speaker 2: Of your PhD?
• 17:18
  Speaker 4: Yes. I want to do a doctorate. Okay.
• 17:21
  Speaker 2: What do you want to study?
• 17:22
  Speaker 4: I'm thinking of public health. Okay. Because it aligns with
• 17:30
  Speaker 4: my goals.
• 17:32
  Speaker 2: For everyone at home listening or on your way to
• 17:35
  Speaker 2: work or you're watching us on YouTube, you are so inspirational.
• 17:43
  Speaker 2: And this is going to resonate with so many people
• 17:47
  Speaker 2: and people are going to see the empowerment that you
• 17:52
  Speaker 2: exuberate and they're going to feel that they're not alone.
• 17:57
  Speaker 4: Thank you.
• 17:58
  Speaker 2: So as difficult as it may be to share your story,
• 18:00
  Speaker 2: we're so happy that you came and shared with us here.
• 18:02
  Speaker 3: And by the way, I'm not sure how old you are,
• 18:04
  Speaker 3: but you look so young and it seems like you've
• 18:06
  Speaker 3: accomplished and been through so much in life.
• 18:08
  Speaker 2: Yes.
• 18:10
  Speaker 4: You know, that's funny that you told me that I'm
• 18:13
  Speaker 4: so young because When I get my diagnosis, I receive
• 18:18
  Speaker 4: so much misdiagnosis because of my age. Yes. That is
• 18:24
  Speaker 4: another reason that I wrote the book because young people
• 18:29
  Speaker 4: get diagnosis with breast cancer later. So the treatment and
• 18:35
  Speaker 4: the prognosis is worse because as soon as they saw
• 18:40
  Speaker 4: your age, they tell you, you don't have cancer. You
• 18:43
  Speaker 4: are too young. Well, guess what? I did have cancer.
• 18:47
  Speaker 1: There's no age limit, right?
• 18:48
  Speaker 4: Exactly.
• 18:49
  Speaker 2: Yeah, as women, advocacy, right? Being a self-advocate. And this
• 18:55
  Speaker 2: goes for anyone, but you know your body better than
• 18:58
  Speaker 2: anyone else. You know when something feels off. You advocate.
• 19:01
  Speaker 2: But as women, we don't talk enough about how invasive
• 19:07
  Speaker 2: it is to be a woman and go into a
• 19:10
  Speaker 2: gynecologist's office and the exams. that we have to do.
• 19:15
  Speaker 2: And you put your legs in stirrups and it's a
• 19:16
  Speaker 2: brand new person. And they're looking at all of your
• 19:20
  Speaker 2: inside organs and all of the, the, the fun things
• 19:23
  Speaker 2: that we experienced, but it is extremely invasive, but it's
• 19:27
  Speaker 2: so important for us to do an annual exam and
• 19:31
  Speaker 2: to advocate for ourselves. And although mammograms come after 40,
• 19:37
  Speaker 2: it's important to advocate. The BRCA gene runs in my
• 19:39
  Speaker 2: family from my mom's side. And I had to advocate
• 19:42
  Speaker 2: to get tested and to see all that. And that
• 19:45
  Speaker 2: process was extremely rigorous. and challenging so I can't imagine
• 19:52
  Speaker 2: what it was for you to advocate for yourself and
• 19:54
  Speaker 2: to say there's something that's not right yes.
• 19:58
  Speaker 4: But I didn't want and that is why my why
• 20:03
  Speaker 4: on the operational side because one of the main should
• 20:07
  Speaker 4: hear in the United States and in most of the country,
• 20:11
  Speaker 4: is that mammogram. I covered it by insurance by the
• 20:16
  Speaker 4: age of 40. Before that age, oh, my God, you
• 20:20
  Speaker 4: have to go through so much stuff. And make doctors
• 20:25
  Speaker 4: to believe you and they don't send you to psychiatry
• 20:29
  Speaker 4: because you make your mind, right? It's so difficult, especially
• 20:34
  Speaker 4: if you don't have any sentence like it was in
• 20:37
  Speaker 4: my case. I didn't have any symptoms at all. So
• 20:40
  Speaker 4: I went from doctor to doctor, from one test to
• 20:44
  Speaker 4: another test. And still, my insurance doesn't want to approve
• 20:49
  Speaker 4: my mammogram.
• 20:52
  Speaker 1: So when you're saying you had no symptoms, but you
• 20:54
  Speaker 1: just felt like you knew something was wrong?
• 20:58
  Speaker 4: I didn't have the classic symptoms of breast cancer, which
• 21:02
  Speaker 4: are skin discoloration, lump, mass.
• 21:08
  Speaker 4: Shame.
• 21:08
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 21:10
  Speaker 4: I didn't have anything at all. The only thing that
• 21:14
  Speaker 4: made me tired, it was I was getting too tired.
• 21:18
  Speaker 4: I had a thing that I used to do with
• 21:21
  Speaker 4: a lot of energy because I love my work. So
• 21:25
  Speaker 4: before I did 60 hours, 70 hours a week, and
• 21:29
  Speaker 4: it was nothing for me. Then 20 hours feel like
• 21:32
  Speaker 4: too much. Then I started to having anemia, like severe,
• 21:36
  Speaker 4: severe anemia. And even with blood transfusion, my blood count
• 21:41
  Speaker 4: doesn't go up. And I went from emergency to emergency,
• 21:46
  Speaker 4: to breast doctor, to every gynecologist on NYU. Like, it
• 21:53
  Speaker 4: was crazy. And I went to hematology, to every specialty,
• 21:58
  Speaker 4: and nobody finds nothing.
• 22:02
  Speaker 2: What was it like the moment that you went to
• 22:04
  Speaker 2: a physician that said, I hear you, I see you?
• 22:10
  Speaker 4: At my workplace, it was a really slow day that day.
• 22:14
  Speaker 4: And I was working with the breast specialist. And I
• 22:18
  Speaker 4: told her, hey, can you check me out? Sometimes I
• 22:22
  Speaker 4: feel heaviness on my chest, but I was going to
• 22:26
  Speaker 4: the gym every day. So sometimes it's just muscle expansion.
• 22:31
  Speaker 4: And she told me, you don't have nothing, but let's
• 22:35
  Speaker 4: do an ultrasound. And then an ultrasound led us to
• 22:40
  Speaker 4: a mammogram, and then everything kept going and going until
• 22:44
  Speaker 4: the cancer diagnosis. Wow.
• 22:49
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 22:50
  Speaker 2: So advocacy and your network, because you were able to
• 22:54
  Speaker 2: confide in a colleague and say.
• 22:55
  Speaker 4: I always say something.
• 22:58
  Speaker 3: Okay.
• 22:59
  Speaker 4: After the cancer journey, I will always say something. I repeat,
• 23:04
  Speaker 4: everybody that I know, that you have to know at
• 23:08
  Speaker 4: least one person that is in the healthcare system. Because
• 23:13
  Speaker 4: I have to talk with a lot of person, internal,
• 23:17
  Speaker 4: so they can move things around. So I can get
• 23:21
  Speaker 4: care faster. Wow. And I have to switch breast surgeons.
• 23:28
  Speaker 4: because my brother is so young, told me, oh, you
• 23:31
  Speaker 4: have cancer, but you have good cancer, because it's stage one,
• 23:35
  Speaker 4: and she has got the surgery and everything, and then
• 23:38
  Speaker 4: I have to spoke with the director and everything, and
• 23:42
  Speaker 4: I did another test, and I have another type of cancer.
• 23:47
  Speaker 4: So I have two different type of cancer, different stage.
• 23:53
  Speaker 4: And if I got that surgery, They will say that
• 23:57
  Speaker 4: I was free cancer, and then a few months later,
• 24:00
  Speaker 4: I will be dead. Because I was stage 3D, almost
• 24:06
  Speaker 4: stage 4. Wow.
• 24:08
  Speaker 3: Yes.
• 24:10
  Speaker 2: So you got the surgery.
• 24:13
  Speaker 4: I have to do chemotherapy first. Okay. Then surgeries. No one,
• 24:21
  Speaker 4: no two. Four surgeries. And then radiation.
• 24:25
  Speaker 1: Radiation.
• 24:26
  Speaker 4: Every day, 32 sessions of radiation. And I got double mastectomy.
• 24:36
  Speaker 4: And they took out 32 masses. And every one of
• 24:41
  Speaker 4: them was positive for cancer. So I was dying inside
• 24:47
  Speaker 4: and out.
• 24:49
  Speaker 2: So it's evident why you want to be an advocate
• 24:54
  Speaker 2: and fight for women and for rights and through the memoir,
• 25:01
  Speaker 2: through sharing your story now, through social media and building
• 25:04
  Speaker 2: that community. What's next on that journey?
• 25:16
  Speaker 4: I'm trying to.
• 25:21
  Speaker 4: I'm trying to let people know that they're not crazy,
• 25:29
  Speaker 4: that cancer act in different way. And I'm working and
• 25:40
  Speaker 4: doing some movement to see if the law of covering
• 25:47
  Speaker 4: mammogram age of 40 can be changed. to at least
• 25:51
  Speaker 4: the age of 30. Because in my family, for example,
• 25:57
  Speaker 4: I have a mom from my father's side that was
• 26:01
  Speaker 4: diagnosed with breast cancer as well, like me before 30.
• 26:06
  Speaker 4: And I have my grandmother from my mother's side that
• 26:10
  Speaker 4: was also diagnosed with breast cancer. But then I was
• 26:15
  Speaker 4: negative for the gene for breast cancer. So something is missing.
• 26:22
  Speaker 4: And the only thing that we have in mammograms and
• 26:28
  Speaker 4: being just covered at the age of 40 is crazy
• 26:32
  Speaker 4: when so many people have been diagnosed before even 30.
• 26:37
  Speaker 4: So I have to pay for my own tests, for
• 26:42
  Speaker 4: my own treatment. Yeah.
• 26:44
  Speaker 2: Yeah. And it's expensive.
• 26:47
  Speaker 4: It is expensive. It can be $ 1, 000 or more, depending.
• 26:54
  Speaker 4: And that is for people, you know, I don't know.
• 26:59
  Speaker 4: It's just, I'm trying to do so much because I
• 27:04
  Speaker 4: don't want people to get the same experience as me.
• 27:07
  Speaker 1: Yeah. Yeah.
• 27:10
  Speaker 4: But it's not easy, especially when you are just a
• 27:13
  Speaker 4: girl that comes from Dominican Republic. One, trying my best.
• 27:20
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 27:20
  Speaker 2: You're doing it.
• 27:21
  Speaker 1: And you're doing it. I was about to say, and
• 27:22
  Speaker 1: you're doing it.
• 27:23
  Speaker 2: You're doing it. According to breastcancer.org, There is a projected
• 27:32
  Speaker 2: 321,910 new cases of breast cancer for the year of 2026.
• 27:39
  Speaker 2: And we currently have an average of 4 million women
• 27:45
  Speaker 2: fighting breast cancer right now. So a couple of stats
• 27:49
  Speaker 2: for you guys. If you can get involved, get involved. Rosemary,
• 27:53
  Speaker 2: where can we find you on socials to support your movement?
• 27:59
  Speaker 4: Mm-hmm. I am on Instagram, Facebook. Facebook, Rosemary Garcia. TikTok, R-O-U-S-S.
• 28:09
  Speaker 3: 2015.
• 28:09
  Speaker 4: Okay. And my Instagram. You know what?
• 28:21
  Speaker 2: We'll tag Rosemary in the clips on social so you
• 28:26
  Speaker 2: guys can follow her. And, you know, if you want
• 28:29
  Speaker 2: to get involved with any local chapters for breastcancer.org, you
• 28:34
  Speaker 2: can reach out to Rosemary and get involved with her
• 28:36
  Speaker 2: initiatives and go that route.
• 28:40
  Speaker 3: I just want to say thank you for sharing your
• 28:42
  Speaker 3: story and your journey and your battle that you're continuing
• 28:45
  Speaker 3: to fight and just spreading awareness to everybody out here
• 28:49
  Speaker 3: and listening. especially during this time, you know, it's always
• 28:52
  Speaker 3: a good time to talk about it, you know, not
• 28:53
  Speaker 3: just during Breast Cancer Awareness Month, but, you know, it's
• 28:57
  Speaker 3: always a good time to be on top of these things.
• 28:59
  Speaker 4: Thank you so much for the opportunity. Always.
• 29:02
  Speaker 2: Que Dios te llene de bendiciones.
• 29:04
  Speaker 4: Amen.
• 29:05
  Speaker 2: Hoy siempre y estamos contigo para lo que necesitas.
• 29:09
  Speaker 4: Amen. Gracias.
• 29:11
  Speaker 2: This has been an emotional rollercoaster episode today, but we've smiled,
• 29:16
  Speaker 2: we've cried, but Thank you all for listening to us today.
• 29:20
  Speaker 1: That's right.
• 29:21
  Speaker 3: This is Teach Me Something presented by Berklee College. Until
• 29:24
  Speaker 3: next time, I am Pro Style.
• 29:26
  Speaker 2: I am Penny Delas. And you can catch us on
• 29:29
  Speaker 2: WOR710 on Sundays on 103.5 KTU.
• 29:33
  Speaker 1: And, of course, iHeartRadio.
• 29:35
  Speaker 2: Hey, thanks for listening.
• 29:37
  Speaker 4: Tune in next week.
• 29:37
  Speaker 1: For all new episode of teach me something
• 29:40
  Speaker 2: Brought to you by Berkeley college.