We can’t plan for everything, but we can help manage life’s unknowns by talking openly about what matters to us and what we’d want most if we became seriously ill.

Kevin Connelly of Holbrook was a star hockey player in high school. But he suffered an injury at that time which required knee surgery. It would be more than 30 years before the lingering effects of that high school injury would become an issue for Kevin. Over the years, the pain in his knee...