My journey with colorectal cancer began suddenly and unexpectedly. One day I was feeling OK and the next, after a painful night, I found myself in surgery. I’d begun throwing up in the middle of the night and had a painful stomachache and diarrhea. Nothing seemed to help, so we rushed to a nearby ER.

Scans showed that something was wrong, but it wasn’t clear what. The doctors quickly admitted me to a nearby hospital and recommended...