My husband, Gary, had been healthy and active before he began complaining of a backache at age 67. Then he started having trouble swallowing. Food just wouldn’t go down.

A doctor in our hometown of Russellville, Arkansas, ordered an endoscopy to examine Gary’s esophagus.

After reviewing the results, the doctor pulled me aside. "It’s not good,” he said. “Your husband has esophageal cancer.”

The tumor was at the...