When I heard that Farrah Fawcett had died of anal cancer in June 2009, I remember saying out loud to myself, “Anal cancer? There is such a thing?”

Less than three weeks later, I was diagnosed with the exact same type of cancer. I’d had just one symptom — a bit of blood on my toilet tissue — so I was in total shock.

Having lived in Houston for 20-plus years before moving to Colorado, I knew I was going to MD Anderson. And...