After three challenging years, Mark Sevillano Jr. finally felt his life was stabilizing. At the start of 2024, he began going to the gym three times a week and adopting a healthier diet.
“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. “It felt like it almost got stuck in my throat.”
He would “chug” water, which usually helped the food pass through his esophagus. But after two months, the problem worsened. When he visited a doctor, the doctor reluctantly ordered a swallow test. Before he could take it, Sevillano went to the emergency room, where he was diagnosed with esophageal cancer.
“I never imagined I had cancer, especially esophageal cancer,” he says. “I’d never even said the word ‘esophagus.’ It wasn’t on my radar at all.”
Transformation Leads to Diagnosis
In 2021, Sevillano’s 11-year marriage ended in divorce, leaving him stressed. At the same time, he was finishing his college degree in teaching. By 2024, he had graduated, started feeling more settled, attended the gym regularly, ate healthier, and ran a few 5Ks.
“’I’m healing,’” he remembers thinking. “I was losing a little weight, but I thought it was because of my new lifestyle.”
Soon, he noticed problems swallowing. Initially, drinking water helped, but after two months, it became much harder.
“I had to literally pound my chest with my fist to help my food go down,” Sevillano explains. “It was so odd now that I think back on it. But at the time, I thought, ‘Oh, I just need a little extra help to digest my food.’”
His parents encouraged him to see a doctor, and he did. But his primary care doctor wasn’t too concerned because Sevillano was young and had no family history of cancer. Still, he insisted on a swallow test, as his mother, a nurse, advised.
“He said, ‘We’ll schedule a swallow test in the future. I’m not too worried about it,’” Sevillano recalls. “Looking back, there were so many red flags.”
He scheduled the test months later, but his swallowing continued to worsen.
“I couldn’t even swallow liquids,” he says. “It would sit in my throat like a clogged drain. You need to unplug it. That’s how it felt.”
Emergency Room Visit and Diagnosis
Sevillano went to the emergency room, where doctors were initially confused by his symptoms. They ran bloodwork and a CT scan. Around 4 a.m., his blood test results came back.
“(The doctor) said, ‘Your bloodwork came back great. We’re just waiting on your scan, which will probably be fine too,’” Sevillano recalls.
Less than an hour later, the doctor returned with a serious expression.
“He said, ‘Unfortunately, we found a mass in the center of your chest, in the lower part of your esophagus,’” Sevillano says.
At first, he didn’t realize that “mass” and “tumor” can mean the same thing.
“If he had said, ‘You have a tumor,’ I would have freaked out more,” he says.
He stayed in the hospital for tests, including a biopsy. The first attempt was difficult because inflammation blocked the scope. Even using a smaller scope, the sample wasn’t enough to confirm cancer. Sevillano was released and ran a 5K two days later.
A second biopsy was scheduled, but before it could happen, he became seriously ill.
“My body didn’t feel right,” he says. “I started feeling light-headed, almost like I’d faint.”
He began shaking and shivering. His mother noticed his pale complexion, and they returned to the ER, where doctors diagnosed him with sepsis, a life-threatening reaction to infection.
“My body was shutting down, and they had to give me strong antibiotics to fight the infection,” Sevillano recalls. “For the next four days, I was fighting for my life.”
Cancer Treatment and Recovery
Once he recovered, doctors performed the biopsy and confirmed Stage 2 esophageal cancer in June 2024.
Doctors quickly created a treatment plan: four rounds of chemotherapy to shrink the tumor, followed by surgery to remove the mass and most of his esophagus in an esophagectomy. Chemotherapy caused exhaustion, brain fog, and neuropathy, and after the fourth round, he started vomiting black fluid.
“It was still awful,” he says. “I took it like a champ, but it could have been worse.”
Surgery in October was intense. Doctors removed six inches of his esophagus and a strawberry-sized tumor, then reconstructed a new esophagus using part of his intestine.
“I went in with a smile and said, ‘Let’s take this tumor out,’” Sevillano says. “When I woke up, I had maybe eight tubes in my side and face. I was in severe pain.”
After hospital recovery, Sevillano returned home and had one more round of chemotherapy. Although doctors recommended three more sessions, he declined. Since then, there’s been no evidence of disease. He will have regular scans for five years.
“I had my six-month check-up, and it showed no cancer,” he says. “I went to the beach to celebrate being six months cancer-free.”
GI Cancers on the Rise Among Young Adults
Sevillano is part of a growing trend of young adults being diagnosed with gastrointestinal (GI) cancers, including colorectal, stomach, pancreatic, and esophageal cancers. According to a review published in JAMA, these cancers are increasing faster than any other type among adults under 50.
Colorectal cancer has increased the most, but pancreatic, stomach, and esophageal cancers are also rising. Unlike colorectal cancer, the latter three have no routine screening tests, making early diagnosis harder.
Experts believe lifestyle factors like obesity, inactivity, poor diet, smoking, and alcohol use contribute, especially habits formed in childhood and adolescence, NBC News reported.
Genetic factors, such as Lynch syndrome, account for 15–30% of young-onset GI cancers. Experts recommend genetic testing for anyone diagnosed under 50.
Young patients often face poorer outcomes because doctors may overlook GI cancer symptoms in this age group, as Sevillano experienced.
Life After Cancer
Sevillano still struggles with nutrition, eating “mini meals” throughout the day.
“I’m still underweight,” he says. “I was 195 pounds at 5 feet 10 inches. Now I weigh 138 pounds. My arms are like twigs.”
Doctors say full recovery may take years. Sevillano encourages people to advocate for their health and seek second opinions if symptoms are ignored.
“Don’t wait like I did,” he says. “If something is wrong, act immediately.”
Despite everything, Sevillano feels positive about his life today.
