On the first and third Tuesday of every month, a small group of cancer survivors come together to write, to reflect and to create a space for healing. Leading each session with a new writing prompt is Elisa A. Garza, a poet, educator and survivor living with stage IV breast cancer.
“When you are facing months of treatment, it can be overwhelming,” she said. “But if you focus on just today – or even just this hour – it’s easier to stay hopeful and grateful for what’s in front of you.”
Elisa founded and developed the creative writing workshop at Lindig Family Cancer Resource Center at Memorial Hermann Memorial City Medical Center in 2024. What began as a flicker of an idea has grown into a lifeline for others navigating the cancer journey. “I wanted to offer something that would help people process what they’ve experienced,” Elisa said. “Writing has done that for me. I hoped it could do the same for others.”
From Diagnosis to Determination
Elisa’s cancer journey began in 2021 when she noticed her bra wasn’t fitting quite right. She waited a few weeks before calling her OB/GYN, who referred her for imaging. Elisa had always received her mammograms at Memorial Hermann Southwest Hospital, under the care of Arlene Ricardo, MD, a breast surgeon she had seen for years due to her dense breast tissue.
After additional imaging and a biopsy, Elisa received a call from Brooke Weaver, MD, who confirmed she had high-grade, triple-negative breast cancer. Shortly after, she met again with Dr. Ricardo, who labeled the cancer as stage IV because it had spread to a few lymph nodes.
“It was such a shock,” Elisa recalled. “You always hope it's nothing serious, but when the diagnosis came, it was clear we had to act quickly.”
She began chemotherapy in July 2021, which continued until November. In August 2021, Elisa started immunotherapy with a new drug shortly after the FDA approved its use for her specific diagnosis. Unfortunately, it caused liver inflammation, which altered her treatment plan.
In December 2021, she underwent a lumpectomy. Because of the liver complications, the surgery only removed the tumor and surrounding tissue to achieve clean margins instead of removing even more breast tissue, the original plan. Radiation followed in January 2022, under Theodore Yang, MD, a radiation oncologist affiliated with Memorial Hermann Southeast Hospital, continuing through March.
By April, complications from her oral chemotherapy medication led to a week-long hospital stay. Then, just as she was recovering, Elisa and her family contracted COVID-19. Soon after, she noticed swelling and redness in the treated breast. A biopsy confirmed a recurrence. This time, it was inflammatory and more aggressive.
In July 2022, Elisa began a second course of chemotherapy intravenously. That November, she underwent a right mastectomy and extensive removal of skin and lymphatic tissue under the care of Emily Robinson, MD, a breast surgeon affiliated with Memorial Hermann Memorial City Medical Center. She began another round of radiation that December, again with Dr. Yang, finishing in March 2023.
But the cancer returned once more. A PET scan in early 2023 revealed the cancer had spread to her neck and mediastinal lymph nodes – progressing her diagnosis to stage IV.
Ongoing Treatment and A Search for Peace
Since then, Elisa has continued treatment with a chemotherapy drug that initially helped reduce the cancer activity, as measured by PET scans and her circulating tumor DNA test. She took a brief break from chemo in late 2023, but by early 2024, the tests showed signs of progression so treatment was resumed.
In December 2024, after months of managing cancer localized in her left axillary lymph nodes, Dr. Robinson performed another surgery at Memorial Hermann Memorial City Medical Center to remove 32 lymph nodes, 12 of which were cancerous. Despite the procedure, a scan in January 2025 revealed that cancer was present in her other lymph nodes.
“I have one of those cancers that doesn’t go away,” Elisa says. “But I’m very grateful the chemo is helping to keep it in place. I know what I’m living with, and I choose to live fully in the time I have.”
In February 2025, she resumed chemotherapy again. She continues to receive supportive therapy across the Memorial Hermann Health System, including recent sessions at TIRR Memorial Hermann Adult Outpatient Rehabilitation at West University, where Lisa McAllen, OTR, helped with scar massage and improved mobility following her recent surgery.
Elisa has also received care at Memorial Hermann Southeast, Memorial Hermann Southwest, Memorial Hermann Memorial City, and TIRR Memorial Hermann at Memorial City. She first visited the Lindig Family Cancer Resource Center in June 2024 after a lymphedema evaluation at TIRR Memorial Hermann.
“The care teams across every location, including oncologists, therapists and nurses, have been incredibly knowledgeable and compassionate,” she said. “It gives me peace of mind to know that no matter what I need, Memorial Hermann can provide it.”
Creating a Space for Survivorship Through Writing
It was during her first visit that Elisa met Dana Howell-Perkins, Oncology Wellness Program coordinator at the Lindig Family Cancer Resource Center. Moved by the art and creative programming offered there, Elisa proposed a new idea: a writing workshop for cancer patients, survivors and caregivers.
“Dana immediately said yes,” Elisa recalled. “And from there, we built something really meaningful.”
The writing group launched in September 2024. Most sessions are virtual, allowing participation from those who are immunocompromised, fatigued or simply live too far away. “Each session begins with a short reading and a prompt, followed by 15 minutes of writing. Participants then share their work if they feel comfortable,” said Elisa.
One of the prompts is: “I am everything I was before cancer, and now I am even more than that.” Others are inspired by poems, images, or even nature, something Elisa writes about often in her own work.
“There’s so much to explore in what we’ve lived through,” Elisa said. “When people put those experiences into words, they begin to make sense of them.”
Over time, the writing group has also become a source of emotional support. Many participants say the sessions help them reflect on how far they’ve come, emotionally and physically, since diagnosis.
“When we share, we validate each other’s experiences,” Elisa said. “It becomes a sisterhood. We understand each other in a way that family or friends sometimes can’t.”
Writing Toward What’s Next
Elisa continues to write daily. She walks a nearby bayou trail each morning and brings her observations of birds, plants and the water into her poetry. This summer, she will publish a collection of poems titled Written in the Body (Mouthfeel Press), which chronicles her journey through cancer treatment and healing. Some of her recent poems have been featured in Huizache, Rogue Agent Journal, Ars Medica, and the American Journal of Nursing.
“I’ve always written, but cancer gives me new things to say,” she says. “And it gives me the time that I did not have when I was healthy and busy to say them.”
While the future remains uncertain, Elisa is focused on what she can control: her writing, her relationships and her efforts to build a writing community through the Lindig Family Cancer Resource Center.
“Survivorship is more than just surviving the disease. It’s about understanding who you’ve become and learning how to live with peace,” she said. “Writing helps us do that and I want to help others find that calm too.”
Elisa encourages others facing treatment to take things one day at a time. It’s the mindset that’s helped her stay grounded through countless rounds of chemotherapy and moments of uncertainty. “You don’t have to see the end,” she said. “Just focus on today.”
The creative writing workshop at the Lindig Family Cancer Resource Center meets virtually on the first and third Tuesday of each month at 10 a.m. In-person attendance is also an option. The workshop is open to all patients, survivors and caregivers.