Approximately 600 times a day, the esophagus ferries whatever is in your mouth down to your stomach. It’s usually a one-way route, but sometimes acid escapes the stomach and travels back up. That can damage the cells lining the esophagus, prompting them to grow back with genetic mistakes. About 22,370 times a year in the United States, those mistakes culminate in cancer. Esophageal cancer can be cured if it’s discovered and treated before it burrows in deep or spreads to other organs. But that’s rarely the case. “The way this usually goes is a patient has had reflux symptoms for many years, th…