In many ways, Jacob Ballard is a typical teenager. He likes soccer, is fascinated by robots and enjoys spending time with his friends.

But in some ways, the 17-year-old cancer survivor is completely different.

Since he was diagnosed with Ewing’s sarcoma in November 2014, Jacob has spent more than 120 days in the hospital and received more than 160 doses of chemotherapy. In March 2015, he also had an internal type I/II hemipelvectomy...

Elsa So had been working at MD Anderson as a night-shift nursing assistant for nine years when her daughter, Marivic, was diagnosed with ovarian cancer and uterine cancer in March 2013.

And while the news came as a shock to both women, it was Elsa’s intimate knowledge of MD Anderson that gave her hope while her daughter received treatment here.

“As an employee, I knew that MD Anderson would take good care of her because...