Mega Doctor News
By Selene Rodriguez
For as long as she can remember, South Texas College graduate Kassandra Cerda wanted to be a nurse, but life repeatedly tested her strength.
From a breast cancer diagnosis while pregnant in 2020 to multiple setbacks in nursing school while battling the disease, Cerda, 32, refused to give up on her dream. This spring, after years of perseverance, she finally crossed the commencement stage, earning her associate degree in Nursing from STC.
“I remember praying to God and saying, ‘You can’t take me yet. I need to see my kids grow. I need to reach my goals,’ which was nursing school,” Cerda said. “And thank God, here I am graduating.”
The daughter of a medical assistant, Cerda’s fascination with healthcare began while watching her mother study and flipping through large medical textbooks.
At La Joya High School, Cerda said taking Medical Terminology as a freshman solidified her decision to pursue Nursing, but the road to graduation was far from easy.
Struggling with dyslexia and the demands of nursing school, Cerda faced her first major setback in 2015 after failing her first semester in STC’s Vocational Nursing program.
“I took it very hard because I’m the type of person who, when I want something, I have to get it,” Cerda said. “I’m very hard on myself.”
Determined not to give up, Cerda and her mother enrolled in a certified nursing assistant (CAN) program, allowing her to take her first steps into the medical field. After working as a CNA for about a year, Cerda returned to STC and completed the vocational nursing program in 2018, becoming a licensed vocational nurse while also becoming a mother for the first time.
“I was halfway through the program when I got pregnant, but I wasn’t going to give up and quit again,” Cerda said. “I kept going. This time, I had even more reason.”
Just as Cerda was building her career, gaining experience in patient care and planning her return to school, she was faced with devastating news.
In February 2020, while 20 weeks pregnant with her second child, Cerda was diagnosed with stage 2 breast cancer.
“Doctors said I had a week to decide whether to abort my baby because they weren’t sure he was going to make it,” Cerda said. “I went for a second opinion and traveled to Houston, and thank God, I was able to receive treatment and deliver my baby.”
Cerda sought treatment at MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, and while carrying her son, she underwent four rounds of chemotherapy before giving birth at 36 weeks.
Following delivery, she continued treatment, including surgery and radiation, all while adjusting to life as a mother of two.
“I was focused on surviving for my kids,” Cerda said. “Everyone was scared, the doctors, everybody. During chemotherapy, I had a horrible time trying to be with my newborn son. I was feeling so tired. I look back and regret not being able to be there the way I wanted to, but I thank God every day that I get to see them grow up.”
Motivated to accomplish her goals, Cerda returned to STC in 2022 to pursue her Associate Degree in Nursing and become a registered nurse while still recovering from cancer treatment. But balancing school, medical appointments and motherhood proved overwhelming, and near the end of the program, she experienced another setback.
“This time was different,” Cerda said. “I wasn’t hard on myself. I don’t see failure the same way anymore. Failure for me is giving up. I had to keep trying.”
After stepping away from school, Cerda returned to work while focusing on recovery and raising her children. Slowly, life began to stabilize. Following a new marriage and the birth of her third child, she found renewed motivation to return to school.
“When I found out I was pregnant again, I was scared,” Cerda said. “My cancer was hormonal, so there was always that fear in the back of my mind.”
With the support of her husband and family, Cerda reenrolled at STC in 2025, balancing motherhood, financial hardship and the lingering fear of cancer recurrence while refusing to let go of her dream.
“Having someone tell you, ‘Go to school. I’ll take care of the kids,’ changes things,” Cerda said. “That support made the biggest difference. And I told myself, ‘You didn’t survive cancer just to quit now.’”
Recently, Cerda crossed the graduation stage surrounded by the people who had supported her through years of setbacks, recovery and perseverance.
She is now preparing to take the National Council Licensure Examination (NCLEX), the exam required for nursing graduates to become licensed registered nurses.
Cerda also plans to pursue her Bachelor of Science in Nursing at STC while working, with the long-term goal of becoming a nurse practitioner and one day working in oncology, inspired by the care she received during her own cancer journey.
“When I was going through cancer, hearing from people who had survived gave me comfort,” she said. “If I can be that person for someone else, then everything I went through was worth it. Maybe that’s part of why I survived, to help people in that way.”
Looking back, Cerda said she hopes her story serves as a reminder to others facing setbacks that difficult moments do not define a person.
“I hope my story helps somebody,” Cerda said. “No matter what you’re going through, big or small, as long as you keep your faith and keep going, you’ll get through it.”
