Swallowing Hope: Esophageal Cancer Stories

Inside this volume

Fifty first-person accounts describe oesophageal cancer, cancer of the food pipe, from early tumours caught on a routine scope to advanced disease that could not be cured. Writers came to it through food sticking, a hoarse voice, a cough every time they drank, low iron, years of watching Barrett's, scalding mate in Porto Alegre and paan chewed since boyhood. They include a Leeds bus driver, a surgical nurse who knew the signs and waited anyway, a rideshare driver who needed coverage before a scan, an offshore rig worker stretched seven times, a pastry cook who could not bear the smell of butter, a piano teacher who said no at eighty-four, and a farmer three hours from the hospital in Linzhou. Carers write too: a retired dinner lady learning to flush a feeding tube, a seventeen-year-old son, a husband whose nurse wrote 'friend'. The book covers chemotherapy and radiation before surgery, a three-cut operation, a leak afterwards, choosing not to operate, stents, feeding tubes, a clinical trial, immunotherapy, dilations, learning to eat small and training for surgery. Some writers are clear, some live with cancer under control, and several face its return or the end of life, including a husband who describes fourteen months beside his wife.

Who it's for

For anyone facing a diagnosis of oesophageal cancer or living with persistent swallowing trouble, and for the spouses, children and carers who cook, drive and sit beside them through treatment.

Format · Instant download · PDF & EPUB · Fifty first-person accounts · PDF: 285 pages

A collection of personal testimony, offered as companion reading — not medical advice.

• 50 single-author testimonies from real people
• A short, plain-language introduction to the topic
• Editor's note, contents page, and curated resource list
• Professional interior typesetting and an original cover

Every purchase includes a print-quality PDF (best for desktop, tablet, and printing) and a reflowable EPUB (best for Kindle, Apple Books, Kobo, and phones). Files are DRM-free. You can download both instantly from the order-confirmation screen, and we email them to your inbox as well, so your books are always within reach.