Charles Hartman thought he needed surgery to remove his appendix in August.

But after he was admitted to St. Agnes Hospital, doctors told him he had signet ring adenocarcinoma, the rarest of cancers of the appendix.

Since then, his appendix has been removed, and he's been receiving chemotherapy. He was supposed to have surgery to remove part of his colon so the doctors could work on the tumors, but he was told the cancer had spread to other parts of his digestive tract.

The diagnosis was a shock, said Hartman, who lives in Arundel Village with his wife, April, and two sons, 13-year-old Larry and 8-year-old...