I learned early on that my mom is more fragile than most people.

Radiation treatments she received as a teenager for stage III nasopharyngeal carcinoma — a type of throat cancer — left her much more vulnerable to head injuries. And if a bone were ever to break in her face, it most likely would never heal.

My mom can get severe whiplash very easily, too, because she had so many muscles removed from her neck as part of salivary...