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I thought I'd share this here. I had never even known that this was a thing. No one in my family had heard of it or even considered it.

We definitely didn't consider that my dad would be diagnosed with it.

He doesn't drink, he doesn't smoke. There was no history of cancer in his family. The only thing he did have was heartburn.

We're lucky it was caught as early as it was. It has been about two years since he was diagnosed and about a year since the doctors said he was cancer free. This would have easily gone completely unnoticed if one of his doctors hadn't suggested he get an endoscopy because of his history of issues with heartburn. The endoscopy discovered a growth that, when tested, came back as being cancerous. He's gone through chemo and radiation treatments, has had part of his stomach and esophagus removed and still has lasting effects from all of this. But he is alive.

This is a type of cancer that is very dangerous because in many situations, symptoms don't start showing until it is in an advanced stage and may be too late for treatment. My dad showed no symptoms of it and if he hadn't gotten that endoscopy he definitely wouldn't have noticed until something happened.

So this is perhaps just a PSA, but if you get frequent heartburn, or know someone who does, something that simple could put them at risk. Definitely talk to a doctor about it and arrange an endoscopy if you can.

What a scary thing to go through, but I'm glad to hear he's cancer free now!