"Sept. 16, 2010, was my day, and I'll never forget it," says Michael Easton, an appeals and trial consultant for the legal profession. "My knees buckled when my urologist told me I had prostate cancer."

At 54, Easton should've been going to his doctor for annual physicals since turning 50, but he'd been putting it off, thinking the visits unnecessary.

His wife of 13 years, Maria changed...