At age 21, most people are still discovering who they are. But I was being treated at MD Anderson for osteochondroma-associated de-differentiated chondrosarcoma. That’s a rare type of bone cancer originating in the cartilage. It’s usually found in much older men.

I’d never heard of MD Anderson before my diagnosis in 2015. But one of my mom’s friends in the Rio Grande Valley insisted that we go there. 

I am eternally...