While life isn’t exactly the same, Ronnie Queenan prefers to acknowledge that he’s still alive five years after undergoing surgery and radiation to remove a tumor from his jaw.

“Just have an attitude of gratitude,” he says.

Ronnie’s cancer journey began July 2011, when a stubborn toothache forced him into a tooth extraction.

“I was really sore after I had it pulled, but I didn’t think nothing of it. I went back to...