As I entered the fall of 2016, I found myself excited about my brother Herman’s cancer-free status. He had returned from MD Anderson at the end of August with continued good news: clear scans.

Four years ago, he was diagnosed with renal medullary carcinoma, an extremely rare type of kidney cancer with a poor prognosis. Herman’s been cancer-free for the last two years.

Many people are shocked when they hear Herman is still...