I was invited to the January meeting of the Oesophageal Patients Association at Headingley Golf Club a few weeks ago. I met a variety of courageous people who had their disease and its treatment in common. They had all survived and were determined to live a good quality of life and share their experiences with others and learn more about the disease and in particular advances in the treatment. Overall survival from oesophageal cancer is improving. Outcomes such as post-operative complications (problems that develop after surgery) and mortality (not-surviving the operation) are reducing in the UK since the National Oesophago Gastric Cancer Audit (NOGCA) started collecting data in 2006. Please visit http://www.augis.org/consultant-outcomes-publication-2014/ for more information.