Sometimes knowledge is not all it’s cracked up to be. So, when I was diagnosed with stage IV pancreatic cancer in July 2016, I told Dr. Robert Wolff I didn’t want to know anything.

As an academic, I knew I had the means to understand the information. But I also knew that anything that went in my mind would stay there and bounce around. And if nothing was in there, then there was nothing to fear. So, I made my brother, sister and...