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Mr. 80 Percent

Episode 1: Twelve uneasy pieces


I’m 48 and married with two young kids. I’m an entertainment writer for The Boston Globe, which means I drink a lot of mediocre chardonnay at parties and track Matt and Ben’s every move. All in all, life’s pretty good. Until it isn’t. According to my primary care doctor, my PSA is high, and a high PSA can mean prostate cancer. Hold on, I think. Isn’t that something old men get? Yes, but not just old men. I discover that prostate cancer is extraordinarily common. Nearly 200,000 men in the United States are diagnosed with it every year, and 30,000 die from it. Still, like most guys, I know nothing about the prostate or prostate cancer. That’s about to change. (Warning: Explicit language.)

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Mark Shanahan can be reached at mark.shanahan@globe.com. Follow him @MarkAShanahan.