A man who was diagnosed with stage 3 cancer has opened up about his symptoms and why he ignored them for so long.
Sam Brandon thought his relentless heartburn was nothing more than a side effect of a busy, stressful life.
As a 40-year-old father of two with a demanding sales job and an ongoing court battle with uncooperative tenants, heartburn felt almost... normal.
But one chaotic moment on the London Underground changed everything.
Sam was racing through a tube station, trying to scarf down a panini with the help of some water when suddenly he began to choke.
Panicked and unable to swallow, he vomited across the carriage of the Elizabeth Line.
That humiliating moment, however, may have saved his life.
In a powerful piece for The Telegraph, Sam opened up about how years of ignoring symptoms - heartburn, difficulty swallowing - led to a diagnosis that would flip his world upside down.
“I’ve never felt more grateful to be alive – and with my family – than I did that weekend,” he shared.
Like many others, Sam chalked his symptoms up to a busy lifestyle. He even joked about comparing heartburn remedies with coworkers. “We used Gaviscon or similar medication,” he recalled.
Eventually, after his tube station incident, Sam saw a GP who prescribed him lansoprazole to reduce stomach acid. It helped - briefly.
But last Easter, while on holiday, one bite of food lodged in his chest. “My stomach had turned cold,” he said. He knew it wasn’t right.
Back in the UK, after another round of lansoprazole and more persistence, Sam was referred to a gastrointestinal specialist. An endoscopy - scheduled the same day as one of his son’s medical scans - led to chilling words from the doctor:
“You have a huge tumour in your throat.”
While they awaited the biopsy, the doctor said he’d be “very surprised” if Sam didn’t have oesophageal cancer.
The official diagnosis: stage three oesophageal cancer, which had spread to his lymph nodes. Tests revealed he had an undiagnosed hiatus hernia, which had caused Barrett’s oesophagus - a serious complication from chronic acid reflux.
One quick search online and Sam found that only one in five people with his type of cancer live beyond five years after diagnosis.
His wife, Mimi, dove into researching the best treatments, and six weeks later, Sam began chemotherapy. But instead of retreating into fear, the couple leaned into life.
The very next day, they went to Glastonbury for Mimi’s 40th birthday.
“We spent those days watching Coldplay and dancing until 4am, with my son on my shoulders,” Sam said.
That summer, they tied the knot - finally making it official after years of life “speeding away” from them. Then came the surgery.
Performed at Royal Surrey Hospital in Guildford by Mr. Nima Abbassi-Ghadi, the operation was, as Sam put it, “cutting edge”.
“It was a minimally invasive robotic surgery,” he explained. Most of his oesophagus was removed, with the remainder attached to his stomach.
He was up walking the very next day and out of intensive care by the end of the week.
These days, Sam eats smaller, softer meals - steak is off the table, but he’s found joy in “bite-sized” turkey, pigs in blankets, bread sauce, and gravy. Recently, he even treated himself to duck pancakes for the first time since surgery.
Now 10kg lighter, Sam is in remission after getting the all-clear in January.
“Telling people I was cancer-free was something special,” he shared. Though he hasn’t returned to work yet, he’s not slowing down.
He’s training for an ultramarathon in October and will run the Oxford Town and Gown 10k in May to raise funds for heartburn and cancer charities.
His mission now is now raising awareness that heartburn can be more than a nuisance - it can be a warning sign.
“Heartburn is both a symptom and cause of oesophageal tumours,” Sam said. “I’d wish I’d known this years ago, but I was still lucky. Had my cancer not been caught when it was, thanks to that panini, I might not be here to tell the tale.”