Recovering from Esophageal Cancer
- Attorney Gary Jensen, 71, is on a mission to educate about esophageal cancer. The father of three and grandfather of eight achieved remission status for the disease in August 2023 after his stage 3 diagnosis earlier that year in January, and after quite a significant journey is now on the path to recovery.
- Esophageal cancer, which is often difficult to diagnose, causes cancer cells to form in the tissues of the esophagus, a hollow, muscular tube that food and liquid move through when traveling from the throat to the stomach.
- Gary, who experienced heartburn and intermittent trouble swallowing as his first symptoms, wants to inform people about a crucial screening method for this disease, an upper endoscopy, a procedure doctors use to examine your upper digestive system. He also stresses the importance of genetic testing.
- Catching esophageal cancer at an earlier stage is, of course, most optimal. But even with advanced esophageal cancer, a serious diagnosis, there is much more hope with the latest medical advancements. Treatments such as Tevimbra, a promising therapy for advanced, or metastatic, esophageal cancer that was recently approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), can help manage the disease and prolong life.
“I feel this overwhelming need to be helpful to people — to get somebody into the endoscopy much sooner than they otherwise would have,” Gary tells SurvivorNet of the important screening method he wants more people to be aware of to help rule out this disease. An upper endoscopy is a procedure doctors use to examine your upper digestive system.
Read MoreDespite an unfortunate delayed diagnosis, the South Dakota native and avid fisherman has made it through, and has continued to receive good news, having just received clear follow-up scans. “No evidence of disease!” he shared a week after our interview before jetting off to New Zealand.
Like many people going through cancer, the fear was definitely there, especially since his kids had unfortunately just recently lost their mother, Gary’s ex-wife who he had been married to for over 30 years.
RELATED: Learn to Forgive Yourself — Dealing With the Psychological Aspects of Cancer
“That made it even more imperative,” he said. “I’ve got three kids and now I have eight grandkids, I didn’t really want to leave them without any parents.”
Gary’s Diagnosis
Gary’s diagnosis was stage 3b esophageal cancer, “and it was at the lower end and it’s involving the juncture where my stomach is, which I think is not unusual either. I think that happens to a lot of people.”
“I don’t think I was very far from stage four,” he added. “The cancer that I had was four, five, six inches long in my esophagus. They called it advanced localized esophageal cancer.”
During his upper endoscopy, he said they “couldn’t even get the probe down, which is not a good sign.”
Gary, as nearly every survivor can understand, recalled the agony waiting for his PET scan results at Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota. “Every day seems like an eternity.”
As he walked into his consult (in the brutally cold temperature at the time) with his doctor to get the results, he said it “was one of the longest walks of my life. I didn’t know if he was going to tell me to go home, that there was nothing they could do … ”
Esophageal Cancer: Getting Emotional Support
Thankfully, Gary had a small army of supporters with him.
“One of my brothers was there, my daughter was there, one of my two sons … I had other people on the phone — at some point I just interrupted and said, ‘I’m sorry, but is there a plan? Are we going to be able to deal with this?’ And he said, ‘Yes, we’re going to have a plan with curative intent.'”
“So of course we all hung onto those two words, and we were off and running,” he recalled of the hopeful news.
Gary had chemo, radiation (plus more chemo during radiation) and surgery, but says one of the most difficult part of the experience was the feeding tube, which he had to have for the next eight months.
“I really couldn’t swallow well. So they’d gone back and forth on whether I should have chemo or just radiation plus a different kind of chemo. But I decided I would have two months of FLOT chemo, which is pretty nasty stuff.”
FLOT chemo is a combination of four different types of drugs used to treat esophageal (and stomach) cancer.
By the end of Gary’s first four infusions, he unfortunately lost his ability to taste.
“The chemo really messed with my taste buds and I just couldn’t stand the thought of eating. So I didn’t eat for eight months. I lived on exclusively on that feeding tube until October [of 2024] when I took it out after surgery.”
He had another PET scan to see how the cancer was responding to the treatment, then started his radiation.
“So by the end of June, after the four FLOT chemos and then the 25 radiation sessions, and I had three more infusions of chemo in addition to [and during] the radiation. I lost 50 pounds. I looked like, I don’t know, a prisoner of war from someplace. I mean, I just looked terrible. I never lost all of my hair. I lost not much of it, but not all of it.”
In addition to his incredible family, Gary shared that he had a “wonderful” significant other, Judi, by his side, though they are no longer dating.
‘Caregivers are angels’
Fondly recalling support from Judi, he said, “I mean, caregivers are angels and sometimes I think it’s worse to be a caregiver than it is to be the patient.”
As many survivors know, cancer can understandably be tough on relationships, and caregivers go through a lot, too, many times giving up their own needs to care for their loved one. It can be a challenging experience, which Gary is well aware of.
“Judi was pretty terrific.”
He was living in Rochester at that point, renting a house for the duration of his treatment, where his kids and siblings, along with their families, came to visit.
“I had a lot of really incredible support … everybody was there quite a bit, frankly.”
Gary’s two brothers Tom and Bob, their wives Val and Deb, along with his sister Deb, “were so very supportive of me during and after each phase of my treatment when I was at Mayo Clinic and when I was away from Mayo, [at] my home or theirs.”
“The esophageal cancer population is a unique population,” Dr. Flores told SurvivorNet in a prior interview.
“Many of the people who develop esophageal cancer are men who are taking care of their families, who are proud, who are strong, who are self-reliant,” he continued. “So when they get faced with this diagnosis and this real vulnerability, they get depressed in a way that can make them crawl up in bed and not want to get out and that’s when the family comes into play.”
A Squad of ‘New York Yankees’
And they came to bat for him in a big way. When Gary, who is a lifelong New York Yankees fan, finally finished his treatment, he was in for a sweet surprise. His kids and grandkids showed up wearing “Team Jensen” Yankees jerseys, the classic white with black pinstripes, for their baseball-loving grandfather as he rang his victory bell.
“It was just awesome having them there,” Gary said, taking a moment of pause and choking up over the tender memory still very fresh in his mind.
“Before I was actually at the clinic, they were there. They were there that morning. I didn’t know they were going to be there, but they were in the backyard of this house that we were renting. So yeah, no, I got surprised. I didn’t know they were coming.”
Gary Blown Away by His ‘Good News’
“So chemo in March and April, radiation and more chemo in June, and then surgery is August 3rd,” he said, switching gears and summing up his treatment plan up until that point.
RELATED: Esophageal Cancer Surgery: What to Expect
When Gary went in after what he described as “quite a surgery” (an understatement) for his pathology results, he was blown away by the news.
His doctor “came in with the army of residents and fellows, they obviously knew about it and they kind of pretended that they didn’t. And they went over and looked at the computer and told me that [it was] resolved and everybody was clapping and having a great reaction to that. So she told me only 30% of patients get that good news.”
“There was no cancer.”
SNTV: ‘The Day I Became Alive’
“I spent the next several months for the most part in Colorado where my significant other was and just trying to recover. And I spent a lot of time sleeping and sometime walking around the block and just trying to get up and get going. I was still on the feeding tube though.”
The surgery Gary had is called an esophagectomy. His esophagus and surrounding tissue was removed. His stomach, as he worded it, was “reconfigured and pulled up through my diaphragm to be my new esophagus.”
It was an eight-hour surgery and he spent 11 days recovering in the hospital, with another several weeks of recovery at home. “Even if successful, as mine was, this ‘big’ surgery results in huge life changes.”
Fishing Trips Around the World
Determined to keep soaking up some of life’s most joyous moments, which for Gary meant more fishing adventures (in addition to time with his family, of course), he has certainly been kicking his travels up a notch. At the time of our interview, he had just returned home from a fishing trip to Cuba, but one of his most memorable trips was in Chile, South America, where he met a special new friend.
When arriving to Santiago, he sat down with a “fishing couple,” John and Linda, the only other people from the U.S. within his travel group.
“I’m sitting there having a sip of coffee and John says to me, well, what brings you to Chile to fish? And I said, well, I had some health issues last year that told me that if I wanted to get anything done, I’m go fishing. I better get to it. And he said, ‘Well, what were your health issues?’ So I told him, well, I have esophageal cancer. He stood up, walked over to me, shook my hand and said, nice to meet you fellow esophageal cancer warrior.”
“And it turns out that he had the very same thing, pretty much the same treatment and has been surviving it for 14 years.”
“So I don’t know how to even describe that, but it happened. They’re terrific. And we were there for a week.”
But now Gary and John are bonded for life. “Every day — I’m not kidding you — every day by seven in the morning he sends me a quote, some inspirational quote, or sometimes it’s an inspirational song that somebody’s done, but every day he sends me that.”
Gary Gives Back
As for Gary, he has been on his own inspirational tour, feeling he has a new purpose in life to raise awareness about his disease, and encouraging others to live out their passions, with or without cancer. He also spends time mentoring cancer patients going through a similar diagnosis, getting involved with programs like Imerman Angels, and educating about the importance of genetic testing.
Mayo Clinic Connect’s support groups have also been an important outlet for him to give and receive support. “I look at it every day to see if I can help somebody.”
“For a while, I kept looking for this … grandiose purpose. I mean, why did God or whoever saved me, why did they save me? I should be doing something spectacular or something to save the world.”
While his advocacy efforts are highly admirable (and Gary is just getting started), his family also gently reminds him that what he brings to his family is enough.
“My daughter looked at me and she said, ‘Well, maybe your special grand purpose is just to keep being a great grandpa.”
Gary can’t argue with that. Next stop: The proud dad and grandfather is looking forward to celebrating his 72nd birthday with his family on a trip to Slovenia in June. With some fishing involved, of course.
Esophageal Cancer: Early Detection and First Steps
Esophageal cancer is a disease that causes cancer cells to form in the tissues of the esophagus, a hollow, muscular tube that food and liquid move through when traveling from the throat to the stomach. The wall of the esophagus is made of up several layers of tissue; cancer begins on the inside lining and spreads to the outer layers of the esophagus as it grows.
Several lifestyle factors, like smoking or heavy alcohol use, can increase a person’s risk of developing esophageal cancer.
According to the American Cancer Society, there will be an estimated 22,070 new cases of esophageal cancer diagnosed in 2025 in the U.S., and it is more than four times more common among men. Of those cases, there will be and estimated 16,250 deaths from the disease. More than 16,000 people on average pass away from the disease every year.
“Esophageal cancer, we know is a tough one,” Dr. Brendon Stiles, a thoracic surgeon at Montefiore Medical Center, told SurvivorNet.
Dr. Brendon Stiles discusses treatment options for esophageal cancer
“It’s one of the cancers with some of the lowest cure rates out there, but like many cancers, if we find it early, we can often treat it effectivelyeither with surgery, with surgery and chemotherapy, with chemotherapy and radiation.”
Dr. Stiles recommends that patients report any symptoms that may indicate esophageal cancer to their doctors right away, since there are more treatment options when the cancer is caught early.
Esophageal cancer symptoms
Unfortunately, symptoms can be a bit vague, so those experiencing them may not think cancer right away. Still, it’s important to be aware of signs of this disease, which include:
- Pain/difficulty swallowing
- Weight loss
- Pain behind the breastbone
- Hoarseness/cough
- Indigestion/heartburn
- A lump under the skin
“Try to get diagnosed early,” Dr. Stiles said. “For esophageal cancer, that means getting screened, getting endoscopies if you have any symptoms. The problem with esophageal cancer is it can mimic a lot of other things. You lose a little weight, have a little trouble swallowing, have a little heartburn, those are tough symptoms to pin down sometimes and often leads to patients with esophageal cancer presenting with later disease.”
Dr. Sofya Pintova, who practices hematology and oncology at Mount Sinai Cancer Center, also stressed the importance of getting checked up when these symptoms, which may not immediately indicate cancer, arise.
“Symptoms include things like … they’re losing weight, they’re having some burning in their esophagus or their chest, they’re having trouble or pain with swallowing and that will often lead to a medical evaluation,” Dr. Pintova explained to SurvivorNet.
“It includes an endoscopy, which is when a gastroenterologist puts a camera down the esophagus in the stomach and if they see an area that is suspicious for a mass, or if they see a mass, they may biopsy it. And if the biopsy confirms cancer, the next [step] is usually staging,” she added.
Diagnosing Esophageal Cancer
Several tests may be used when diagnosing a patient with esophageal cancer. These include:
- Physical exam/health history – An exam of the body to check for general signs of health as well as signs that may indicate disease
- Chest X-ray – An X-ray of the organs and bones in the chest
- Upper endoscopy – A test that allows doctors to examine the walls of the esophagus using a small camera that is attached to a thin tube and passed down the patient’s throat
Other tests may be used as well to help get an accurate diagnosis. The upper endoscopy is particularly important because it helps your doctor to clearly see if there are any abnormalities in the wall of your esophagus.
Dr. Whit Burrows, a thoracic surgeon with the University of Maryland Medical System, explains what happens during an endoscopy
Usually if a suspected esophageal cancer is found during an imaging test or an endoscopy, it will be biopsied, which means your doctor will remove a small piece of tissue using a cutting instrument that is passed though the scope. That will then be tested.
Picking the Best Treatment Plan
After an esophageal cancer diagnosis, you and your doctor will need to decide which treatment option, or combination of treatment options, to use. Which route you go with will depend on the type of your disease, as well as what stage it is at.
“As a surgeon, you’re trying to figure out what kind of patient requires surgery, chemo-radiation plus surgery, or just chemotherapy, or just chemotherapy and radiation,” Dr. Flores previously explained to SurvivorNet. “So, how do you figure that out? Basically, if you have a tumor that is considered a T1 legion, so basically just a tumor that is on the surface of the esophageal mucosa [the inner surface of the esophagus] … sometimes they can remove that with an endoscope (surgery).”
Dr. Flores noted that there are some situations where T1 tumors, which are very early-stage, can be removed with surgery alone.
“When it gets a little more advanced, T2, T3, where it goes through the thickness of the wall of the esophagus, that frequently requires chemotherapy and radiation, followed by surgery,” Dr. Flores added, which is closer to the plan that Gary had, though he had more chemotherapy following his initial chemo and radiation, which is sometimes referred to as a “sandwich” method in the medical field.
Considering Different Treatment Combinations for Esophageal Cancer
When a patient comes in with a large “obstruction,” which cannot be removed with just surgery, Dr. Flores said the first move may be to send this patient to the radiation oncologist to get treatment started. “The majority of the times, you’ll get a response, things will open up, you will be able to eat.”
“What determines whether you can get that combination of chemotherapy and radiation depends on your symptoms,” she continued. “Symptoms really dictate whether or not you’re going to get radiation there, but also, do you have distant disease? If you have a tumor in the middle of the chest but a metastasis [somewhere else], if you don’t need radiation to open things up so you can swallow, usually in those cases they will just give you chemotherapy.”
Coping with an Esophageal Cancer Diagnosis
Coping with advanced esophageal cancer is challenging, but there are ways to manage the emotional and physical toll.
Experts recommend trying prioritizing the following:
- Seek Support: Connect with support groups, therapists, or spiritual advisors who can provide emotional support and guidance.
- Manage Symptoms: Work with your healthcare team to control symptoms and improve your quality of life. Palliative care can be particularly beneficial.
- Stay Informed: Understanding your condition and treatment options can help you feel more in control.
- Focus on Quality of Life: Prioritize activities and relationships that bring you joy and comfort.
While advanced esophageal cancer is a serious diagnosis, there is still hope. Treatments such as Tevimbra, a promising therapy for advanced, or metastatic, esophageal cancer that was recently approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), can help manage the disease and prolong life.
Clinical trials are also incredibly important both from an individual and a societal standpoint. These studies give patients, who have diseases that are not responding to typical treatments, access to a bevy of new drugs that are currently being developed by pharmaceutical companies. Testing these treatments on people in experimental trials is really the best way for research to progress.
A lot of the therapies being tested in clinical trials will fail. However, participants in clinical trials are statistically more likely to have better outcomes, according to the Director of NYU Perlmutter Cancer Center, Dr. Ben Neel. Among the large group of clinical trials that are currently underway, there will be some dramatic successes.
SurvivorNet has put up a clinical trial search tool specially designed for you. You may see new results over the course of several days as new clinical trials are added daily. You can also use clinicaltrials.gov, which is the national registry of trials.
Consider asking:
- Is there any clinical trial on advanced esophageal cancer?
- Am I eligible to a clinical trial?
It is crucial to be as informed as possible about the disease you are facing and the options you have to treat it. Don’t be afraid to speak up to your medical team, and as always, seek out multiple opinions to make sure you are getting the best possible outcome.
There are also plenty of resources available for people living with cancer who feel like they’re struggling mentally, from traditional therapy to support groups to integrative medicine that may include treatment approaches like acupuncture or meditation. Check out SurvivorNet’s resources on mental health for cancer survivors.
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