When I was diagnosed with squamous cell carcinoma of the vocal cords — a type of throat cancer — in the summer of 2016, there was no question about where I would go for treatment.

I’m originally from Waco, but I’d been living in Houston for about 10 years by then. And as a part of my job as a local news photographer, I’d covered dozens of stories at or about MD Anderson. So, I already knew it had the best Head and Neck Center in...