After three stressful years, Mark Sevillano Jr. felt like his life was falling into place. At the start of 2024, he began working out at the gym three days a week and eating healthier foods.

“I felt better and just when I started feeling better, I … couldn’t really swallow my food comfortably,” the 41-year-old from Santa Fe Springs, California, tells TODAY.com. “I felt like it almost would get stuck in my throat.”

He’d “chug” water, and that often helped the food move through his esophagus. After two months, his symptoms worsened, and he visited a doctor, who reluctantly ordered a swallow test for Sevillano. Before he could undergo the exam, he visited the emergency room, where he learned he had esophageal cancer.

“I would have never imagined that I had any cancer, let alone esophageal

See Full Page