One year on

Hi everyone,

I just wanted to share some positive news in the hopes that it may help someone or just give someone a different outlook on an oesophageal cancer diagnosis.

A year ago yesterday on the 9th November 2020 my dad (53) went in for an operation to remove his stage 3 oesophageal cancer. Unfortunately the operation was abandoned as the cancer had grown through his oesophagus and around his pulmonary artery. The surgeon had never seen this before and advised us that they had to abandon as if they had cut the tumour my dad would have bled out on the table. This was absolutely devastating news for us and we were also informed that without treatment my dad would have less than a year to live. I just remember feeling absolutely hopeless and so desperate for this to not be true, I found this forum and broke my heart in a post just wanting someone to tell me that more could be done and amazingly it was!

Everyone was so helpful and supportive and amazingly my dad was able to recover from his op well and started Chemo Radiation in January. We knew this wasn’t a curative treatment but we were told in some cases the cancer can disappear so we prayed that it would work a miracle. In June we got the news that the cancer was still there, whilst were prepared for this it was still devastating knowing that our last hope for curative treatment was gone. However the treatment had worked to some extent and the cancer is currently inactive. I am so happy to say that a year and a day later my dad is still here and his cancer is currently inactive. This time last year this day is all I wished for and it has happened! 

An oesophageal cancer diagnosis is devastating, sadly we all know the statistics and many of us do not know the symptoms until it is too late. With my dad his persistent heartburn was the key symptom that we had all overlooked, but I just wanted to share that there are treatment options and although they may not be curative paths they can help prolong life and keep the cancer at bay. 

I hope that this may be able to help someone who was in my position last year, and just remember try to keep positive and seek help if you need it, especially for family members because it is just as hard on you. I really struggled with accepting my dads diagnosis and anticipatory grief to start with, thinking about all the things my dad was going to miss out on and whilst I still find it hard I did have counselling which helped me massively learning to cope!

Love A x