Home » Home » Space Coast Community Asked to Support Navy Veteran Battling Rare Stage-Four Porocarcinoma Cancer

Space Coast Community Asked to Support Navy Veteran Battling Rare Stage-Four Porocarcinoma Cancer

By  //  February 8, 2026

A Life of Service, A Battle for Survival: Alfred Garcia Needs Your Help

One of our own in the Space Coast Daily team is in need of help. Alfred Garcia, father of Space Coast Daily and FNLR’s Zane Garcia, is battling stage four porocarcinoma skin cancer. 

BREVARD COUNTY, FLORIDA – One of our own in the Space Coast Daily team is in need of help. My father, Alfred Garcia, is battling stage four porocarcinoma skin cancer. 

Born November 27, 1970, in Manhattan, NY, but moving to the Bronx, NY shortly after, my father Alfred Garcia Jr. would lose his father Alfred Garcia Sr. at the age of four. His childhood in New York was heavily impacted by his grandmother, Almena Lofton.

It would not be until 1979 that Alfred “Al” became a Floridian. After moving to Orlando with his mother and stepfather, Garcia Jr. found in sports a way to truly call Florida home. His family would eventually move to Winter Park, where he would come to call home.

Al played many sports, but excelled most in baseball and track. He enjoyed his time as a Winter Park Wildcat and still shows his pride. After graduating from high school in 1989, he enlisted in the Navy in 1990.

U.S. Navy veteran Alfred Garcia Jr. did a tour on the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower CVN-69, the first combatant ship to allow women. As a meteorologist in the Navy, he was vital to the service and succeeded, finishing first in his class. He was stationed in Puerto Rico from 1992 to 1996 at Roosevelt Roads in Ceiba.

He was first stationed in Gulfport, Mississippi, from 1990 to 1992 in Bay St. Louis, and got involved locally with the Big Brother and Big Sister programs.

His love of sports kept him involved in every community he called home while in the Navy.

As a meteorologist in the Navy, he was vital to the service and succeeded, finishing first in his class. He was stationed in Puerto Rico from 1992 to 1996 at Roosevelt Roads in Ceiba.

There he was once again involved within the community, playing sports and coaching the youth. Garcia Jr. was on the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower CVN-69 for one tour.

As a meteorologist in the Navy, Alfred Garcia’s role was crucial to the Service, and he excelled in his class, finishing first.

His time in the Navy ended in 1999, and a year later, I was born. My father is the single-handed reason I was involved in sports and fell in love with sports.

From as early as I can remember, I had a football or a basketball in my hands. I first started with flag football, my dad coaching and training me. Learning what I did was huge for my success in sports.

My father and I built memories by attending sporting events, our favorite teams being the Orlando Magic, Dallas Cowboys, and Florida Gators.

Attending sporting events was our tradition, something we did together each year, but that all came to an end as 2023 drew to a close.

My father, left, and I built memories at sporting events, our favorite teams being the Orlando Magic, the Dallas Cowboys, and the Florida Gators.

In August of 2023, my dad, Alfred Garcia, was diagnosed with Porocarcinoma, an extremely rare form of skin cancer that only sees 0.4 cases per one million people each year.

My father has always been a fighter, even before he entered the Navy, and this seemed like another fight he could win.

However, week by week, the cancer progressed and started to take a toll on him.

A man of faith and a believer of “power in prayer,” Alfred initially thought this cancer would work its course and be gone after the chemotherapy that most cancer patients endure. What was unknown to Al and the Oncologist team taking on this cancer was that the chemotherapy would only make things worse.

The chemotherapy had only created more issues; blood clots in his lungs were the biggest. With the treatment and medicine Alfred had to take on, he was diagnosed with Diabetes along the way. My father had been in and out of the hospital, but his most lengthy stay was in December of 2024, where he spent nearly two months in the hospital.

One of many hospital stays, where Al has had surgeries done to remove tumors. Porocarcinoma is an aggressive skin cancer that comes from the sweat glands, and while after his hospital stays, Alfred came home feeling somewhat better, he was never in the clear.

A normal blood sugar level is around 100 mg, depending on whether you have eaten. Al was facing life-threatening blood sugar levels and was admitted to the hospital. Over a dozen surgeries later, he was finally able to go home.

Porocarcinoma is an aggressive skin cancer that comes from the sweat glands, and while after his hospital stays, Alfred came home feeling somewhat better, he was never in the clear.

Some days are better than others, but worse than good. Al was back in the hospital just a day after the new year began in 2026. A heart procedure was done as there was an extremely high blockage in the arteries to his heart.

Having Stage four Porocarcinoma, my father and I firmly believe it is God saving his life and hoping he can continue to fight and battle and beat this aggressive cancer one day.

CLICK HERE to go to my father’s GoFundMe. Thank you for sharing the link; reaching a wider audience is much appreciated.