Daniel Garza survived anal cancer | fistula | strangulated intestine | 5-fluorouracil | ostomy bag

DESCRIPTION

In 2015, Daniel Garza experienced bloating and difficulty completing a bowel movement.  A subsequent digital rectal exam revealed a mass on his sphincter, which led to a diagnosis of anal cancer.  He tells the @CancerInterviews podcast a surgical procedure got rid of the cancer, but it also resulted in his losing half of his sphincter and the temporary presence of a fistula, a tear which was like a second anus.  He underwent a chemotherapy regimen of 5-fluorouracil, followed by radiation treatment, but another major challenge awaited Daniel, as he had to wear an ostomy bag, which he does to this day.  He deals with the bag and has continued his work as an advocate for those with HIV and anal cancer, in addition to being an actor and a comic.

Daniel Garza thought he was in good health until he was plagued by a nasty variety of symptoms.  He experienced bloating, stomach pain, bowel movement blockage and anal bleeding.  The initial conclusion of his doctor was that he had a strangulated intestine tied to a hernia he suffered years earlier.  He prescribed a number of treatments, which did no good.

Daniel went back to the doctor and went through blood tests and a CT scan.  But it was a subsequent digital rectal exam that revealed a mass on his sphincter.  That led to a biopsy and a diagnosis of squamos cell carcinoma of the anus, also known as anal cancer.

The mass was on one side of Daniel’s sphincter.  Surgery removed the cancer but also removed half of his sphincter.  Next up was chemotherapy, a type known as 5-fluorouracil, then radiation treatment and time in a hyperbaric chamber. 

The cancer was gone, the aforementioned fistula healed, but to dispose of the waste in his system, Daniel had to be fitted with an ostomy bag, which he eventually named Tommy.  He went through three ostomy nurses and two types of bags before he felt comfortable managing the bag.

These days, Daniel Garza says he is doing his best to make peace with Tommy.  It hasn’t stopped him from continuing his life as an advocate for those dealing with HIV and anal cancer.  He also travels the world as an actor and a comic.

Additional Resources:

Support Groups:

Man Up To Cancer: https://www.manuptocancer.org

Cheeky Charity: https://www.cheekycharity.org

TRANSCRIPT

Bruce Morton: Greetings and welcome.  This is the @CancerInterviews podcast, and I’m your host, Bruce Morton.  Some types of cancer are better known than others.  While we may hear a lot about breast cancer or prostate cancer, we hear far less about anal cancer.  On this episode, we will hear from a man who survived a diagnosis of anal cancer.  He is Daniel Garza of Laguna Beach, California.  What he has to say will be inspirational and educational.  Here he is, and Daniel, welcome to Cancer Interviews.

Daniel Garza: Hi, Bruce.  Thank you for inviting me.

BM: Our guests aren’t just cancer survivors.  They are people with lives that have nothing to do with cancer.  That said, we would like to learn more about you, Daniel, so if you would, tell us a little bit about where you are from, what you have done for work, and when time allows, what you like to do for fun.

DG: I am Daniel G. Garza, from Laguna Beach, California.  Originally from Mexico, raised in Texas, I like to call myself an original Tex-Mex.  For work, my primary job is an advocate.  I am both an independent advocate for different causes such as HIV, anal cancer and mental health, and I also work as the part-time director for Cheeky Charity, and I have been with them since the beginning of 2025.  For fun, I am a workaholic, Bruce, so for fun, I am either editing videos, writing something, posting things, I like to spend time on my laptop, listening to music and eating some ice cream.

BM: All of us who have survived encountered that point in time in which our health took a turn for the worse.  This required medical attention, and that led to a cancer diagnosis.  For you, what went wrong and led to your seeing a doctor?

DG: My journey with cancer started in the fall of 2014.  I was getting bloated, I was having trouble going to the bathroom.  Just to have a bowel movement was so tiring.  I would literally have to go lay down after having a bowel movement.  I thought it was just my diet, the way I was eating, because that is what the symptoms were calling for.  My doctor was kind of backing that up.  Fast-forward to March of 2015, I am in for a regular screening, and I still have these complications, had been having them for a while.  The doctor had a number of suggestions.  Finally, on that particular visit, I brought up the fact that I had had a hernia.  The doctor said I have a strangulated intestine and that what was causing my problems.  So, we went in for the surgery and thought we had fixed the hernia and that was the end of the problem.  But I still had the same problems.  My diagnosis, after a colonoscopy and a biopsy, they had to do a finger probe and that’s how they found a mass on the sphincter, and that’s what led to the cancer diagnosis.

BM: Before we go any further, Daniel, it is fair to say you know a lot more about anal cancer than you did when you initially were hit with these symptoms.  Today knowing what you know, would you say your symptoms were pretty much the symptoms associated with anal cancer, and that anyone with those symptoms should seek medical attention right away?

DG: Now, yes.  Now that I have done the research, ten years later, and speaking and promoting and advocating, I can go back and say it wasn’t because of my diet, it wasn’t because I am a gay man and my sexual activity, I can say my symptoms were the symptoms of anal cancer.  This is why so man men go undiagnosed until the cancer has become Stage IV or terminal. 

BM: We’re confident you’ll be able to learn some tips and tools to help you through your personal cancer journey, but first we’d like to invite you to please give us a ‘like,’ leave a comment or review below and share this story with your friends.  Kindly click on the Subscribe button and click on the bell icon. That way you will be notified when we post a new interview.  We also want to remind you we are not distributors of medical advice.  If you need medical advice, please consult a licensed health care professional.

Now, I have a two-part question for you.  The first part is, from an emotional perspective, how difficult was the news of your diagnosis?

DG: Emotionally, I can neither confirm nor deny that I cried a little.  Because I had been in HIV advocacy for so long, after the colonoscopy I did research.  So, by the time I got my diagnosis, it was already in my head that this was going to be cancer.  Of course, my brain thought of colon cancer or colorectal cancer because I wasn’t aware about anal cancer.  I didn’t even know it existed until the conversation with my doctor.  There was a mixture of, “Dang!  It’s cancer!” and finally there is an answer to what has been going wrong with me.  Just for reference at that point, I was pretty much eating soups and salads on a daily basis, just so I would have a regular bowel movement and not eat too fatty or too big of a meal.  It was just refreshing to know that my symptoms had a name.  It wasn’t my sex, and it wasn’t my diet.  Luckily, I have had a partner for 13 years.  We had been together three years at the time.  I had a partner who said right from the start that he would take care of me.  My doctor and I, we were a team, so that made it a lot easier.  We have heard it when we get diagnosed that, ‘You’re going to be fine.  I have seen hundreds of these,’ which doesn’t reassure you too much, but when my doctor said, “We got this,” it completely changed the way that I looked at treatment. I knew he was going to do everything he could to make me feel better.  So, that took some of the stress and anxiety off. 

BM: Okay, we have talked about the emotional piece in this, but through treatment, physically how did you feel?  Were you in pain?

DG: So, the pain had been there since the fall of 2014.  Physically, I was already in pain.  At that point, just getting around was difficult sometimes.  The cancer was right on the sphincter.  To walk, to sit, even laying in bed on my back was difficult at times, so the discomfort of the cancer was big by that time. Then, your body is reacting all the time.  Things start to shut down, things start to malfunction.  Your liver isn’t working, your kidneys are not working right, your stomach is not digesting as it should.  All this affects you mentally as well because if you are constantly in pain, your body starts to adjust to that.  It just becomes hard, and your spirit breaks down because you can’t do anything.  It was a three-fold moment of misery.

BM: So, you had that three-fold dosage of difficulty for you to deal with, but you still had treatment waiting for you.  Different types of cancer present different amounts of treatment options for those diagnosed.  In your case, did you have treatment options?

DG: There wasn’t a whole lot of options available.  Surgery wasn’t an option because the cancer had taken over half of my sphincter.  The doctor suggested a combination of chemotherapy and radiation to see how much can be saved.  I had the pump with a porta cap and it was there for the week, Monday through Friday.  I had two weeks of that, then 40 rounds of radiation directly into my groin to eliminate the cancer.  The good news was, this procedure got rid of the cancer, but the bad news was, it took half of my sphincter.

BM: So, what was life like with half a sphincter?

DG: So, for a while I was in diapers.  After radiation there were some complications.  I had a fistula.  It’s like a tear between the inside of your body and the outside, basically a second butt.  It is something you have no control over.  I had to have ostomy surgery on April Fool’s Day, 2016, but all that time I was wearing diapers because I had no control over bowel movements anymore.  The sphincter is gone and then there is the fistula, which is the second hole.  To answer your question, all this was miserable.  I still wanted to go out and do things.  We traveled from California to Florida, but every once in a while, I had to change my diaper.  As an adult, it is not something your mind can easily process.  I was sad, I was depressed.  Felt miserable most of the time.  The mental and spiritual aspect over not having control of your body just completely breaks down your body.

BM: You mentioned chemo.  Do you remember what kind of medication you were on?

DG: It was the 5-fluorouracil or 5-FU.  That’s the treatment that I got. 

BM: There must have been a point in which things started changing for the better.  What was that like?

DG: I was told my recovery would have to include an ostomy bag and I did not want an ostomy bag.  I thought that was going to be the end of me.  I wondered how I was going to survive, how I was going to live.  I did a little research, talked to a couple of people and they gave me the brighter side of having an ostomy.  By then, the fistula had almost completely healed.  I also did 40 rounds of hyperbaric chamber treatment.  That helped to seal the fistula.  After my ostomy, I could not believe the 180 that my life did.  Once I got used to having my ostomy, and my ostomy’s name is Tommy, so once Tommy and I made peace, we coexist, we know we have to live with each other, but I have been able to continue my career.  I can continue as an advocate, as a life coach, I do entertainment, I am an actor and a comic as well, I have been able to go around the world, I have been able to take my diagnosis and turn it around and use it as a platform for advocacy.  So, I get called to talk about anal cancer, and particularly in a society in the Latino community and the gay community where anal cancer is not talked about a lot because of the stigma, the shame, the secrecy, I have been able to step forward.  I have been able to talk about anal cancer and how it has affected me.  I am hoping it has opened some doors and inspired some conversation.

BM: Daniel, I want to go backwards a bit on your story to the point in which you first went on the ostomy bag.  Some of our previous guests with ostomies tell us they had an outstanding ostomy nurse who helped them on a pathway toward managing the bag themselves while others say the nurse handed them a bag and told them they were on their own.  In terms of learning how to manage an ostomy bag, what was your experience like?

DG: I was in a hospital for two days before they let me go.  I had the surgery one day, the next day I rested, then the third day, they told me I was going home.  On that first day, a nurse came in to show me how to put the ostomy bag on and manage it; but you’re groggy and you’re not really understanding these complex instructions.  Even though the surgery has been explained to you several times, you have to live it to see what it is like.  I learned a little at the hospital, I came home, and my first home nurse would come every other day, and she was not very good.  She was not very concerned about my well-being.  In fact, her and my boyfriend would talk way more than she would talk to me.  For some reason they really got along, and they would be chatting the whole time, so finally I called the nursing office and got her fired.  She was not doing anything for me.  I went through three nurses.  The third one, and this is three or four months in, was finally able to sit with me because I was having leakage problems and I was having reaction problems, she showed me how to manage the bag.  I also went through several products.  There are several companies that make ostomy bags.  I had to go through two companies before I found the one that worked for me, so not everything at first is going to work for everybody.  Then chemo made me lactose intolerant, which also affected me.  Then there was the issue of having a bag while being an air passenger.  When you are flying, to some degree the bag inflates, and then using the bathroom on a jet while having a bag is not comfortable at all.  Even today, I am still learning things about Tommy.

BM: Daniel, we are about to wrap up now, but I want to ask you about an organization that has provided an external source of support to you, and that is the group Man Up To Cancer.  If you would, tell us about what Man Up has done for you and what it can do for others.

DG: I first learned about Man Up To Cancer when it started in like 2020 and I joined them because I was looking for a group of men that I could talk about cancer, talk about ostomies and stuff.  Then in 2024 is when I really got a little busier on its website (https://www.manuptocancer.org) , on its Facebook page, commenting more, being more present, joining the support groups, jumping on the Zoom calls.  Then in the fall of 2024 was my first group meeting, known as the Gathering of the Wolves, a camp retreat they hold every year.  They had it in the Poconos.  It was one of the best experiences ever, to be around 150 guys, all at different stages of cancer, some with ostomies.  There is comfort in a pack, which I suspect is why they call it a Gathering of the Wolves.  It really did help me grow mentally, physically and spiritually to be part of Man Up To Cancer.

BM: He is Daniel Garza of Laguna Beach, California, and he has been our guest sharing the story of his journey with anal cancer.  Daniel, thanks so much for being with us on Cancer Interviews. 

DG: My pleasure, thank you, Bruce.

BM: And we want to remind you as we always do when we conclude that if you or a loved one are on a cancer journey, you are not alone.  There are people like Daniel Garza, organizations like Man Up To Cancer that are there to help.  So, until next time, we’ll see you on down the road.

Additional Resources:

Support Groups:

Man Up To Cancer  https://www.manuptocancer.org

Cheeky Charity  https://www.cheekycharity.org/

SHOW NOTES

TITLE: Daniel Garza, Anal Cancer Survivor – Laguna Beach, California, USA

In 2015, Daniel Garza experienced bloating and difficulty completing a bowel movement.  A subsequent digital rectal exam revealed a mass on his sphincter, which led to a diagnosis of anal cancer.  A surgical procedure got rid of the cancer, but it also resulted in his losing half of his sphincter.  He underwent a chemotherapy regimen, followed by radiation treatment, but another major challenge awaited Daniel, as he had to wear an ostomy bag, which he does to this day.  He deals with the bag and has continued his work as an advocate for those with HIV and anal cancer, in addition to being an actor and a comic.

Additional Resources:

Support Groups:

Man Up To Cancer   https://www.manuptocancer.org

Cheeky Charity  https://www.charity.org

Time Stamps:

02:15 Daniel first noticed symptoms of bloating, fatigue and difficulty completing bowel movements.

03:51 A subsequent digital rectal exam revealed a mass on his sphincter, which to a diagnosis of anal cancer.

04:59 Daniel has this advice for anyone regarding anal cancer.

06:57 His emotional reaction to the diagnosis.

09:08 Describes how he felt physically during and after treatment.

11:04 Asked if he had treatment options.

12:28 Daniel describes life with half a sphincter.

15:20 Recalls when his journey took a turn for the better.

18:21 Describes his initial experience with an ostomy bag.

KEYWORDS (tags)

anal cancer

strangulated intestine

radiation treatment

fistula

sphincter removal

5-fluorouracil

ostomy bag

daniel garza

chemotherapy