Stephen Garcia's Life-Saving Diagnosis: The Moment His Wife Asked 'Why So Many Bathroom Trips?'

Former University of South Carolina quarterback Stephen Garcia likely has his wife Masha’s curiosity to thank for saving his life.  “I had some sporadic stomach pain,” Stephen, 38, told Craig Melvin during a Monday, September 14, appearance on the Today show. “I was going to the bathroom often. Just wasn’t ever fully emptied.” Stephen said his frequent trips got “to the point where my wife was like, ‘What are you doing in the bathroom?’” After Masha urged her husband to get screened, Stephen was diagnosed with stage 4 colorectal cancer.

“It was definitely a shock,” Stephen recalled of how he felt after receiving the news. “But I think it was just like, ‘What’s next?’ I wasn’t going to sit there and be like, ‘Well, I guess I’m dead.’ It’s like, what are we going to do? What’s the game plan? How are we going to beat this thing?”

Masha remembered telling her husband he “had to fight” to stay alive before immediately becoming proactive once again.  “I was like, ‘I need to figure out a solution,’” she said. “So I grabbed his phone, ran out the door and called his doctor to get everything in order.” Stephen added, “She probably did save my life.” Stephen, who played for the Gamecocks from 2008 to 2011, has shared every step of his cancer journey with his tens of thousands of followers on social media. “He’s brave being this open with his diagnosis,” Masha said. “Men do it in silence. They don’t want to talk about it, no one wants to talk about it. He was just so open.” Stephen said the overwhelming response to his diagnosis has been “kind of shocking.” “The fact that fans still care means a lot,” he acknowledged. “I hope they truly understand that. It means the world to me.”