When Steve Garraty was in middle school, his family moved to Roswell. He entered his teenage years searching for belonging, identity, and confidence. What began as typical experimentation with alcohol quickly grew into something more destructive. By his later years of high school, this path had become routine. Grades and responsibilities slipped. He jokes today that he was “majoring in parties,” but at the time there was nothing funny about the direction his life was heading. He was on a dark path, one he was not sure how to redirect on his own.
The course of his life changed the summer after graduation. At just eighteen years old, after discovering a mass on his neck, Steve heard the three words no one ever expects to hear: “You have cancer.” The diagnosis was Stage III Hodgkin’s lymphoma. What followed was nearly ten months of chemotherapy. The treatments were brutal. The nausea was overwhelming. He lost his hair, his strength, his sense of normalcy, and at times, his hope. He describes that year as “very hard,” a stretch of life where every two-week cycle felt harder than the one before it. Watching friends head off to college while he stayed behind to fight for his life added a layer of emotional pain that was just as heavy as the physical.
Yet, while the experience broke him down, it also revealed something new. Surrounded by family, supported by lifelong friends, and encouraged by people who believed in him, Steve began to see the world differently. Gratitude took root. Priorities shifted. The second chance he received came with a responsibility to live with intention.
Steve later attended the University of Georgia, built a successful career in leadership, and raised a family. But the foundation was formed during that season of adversity.
His memoir, Greatfruit: How Cancer Led to Living a More Fruitful Life, shares not just what happened, but how the experience can help others. It offers perspective for anyone facing struggle, loss, or uncertainty. It is a reminder that life’s hardest seasons can become the soil where something meaningful grows.
https://www.stevegarraty.com/
When my family moved from Connecticut to Roswell in the late ’70s, fitting in wasn’t easy. Parties, and teenage years followed—and eventually, stage III Hodgkin’s diagnosis and a hard year. But that painful year became the turning point that led to healing, gratitude, and a more fruitful life.”