They stood up to fight the twin pandemics of COVID-19 and racial injustice. Meet the people leading us through a harrowing year.

Quite the contrary, a Spotlight investigation shows. Death exposes in high relief the layers of inequities, in race and income, care and opportunity, that shape life down to its final hours. It is a truth the pandemic has only underscored — one hard to see, because it is so much easier to look away.

For the past year, Mark Shanahan has been working on Mr. 80 Percent, a six-episode podcast miniseries about his experience with prostate cancer. It’s a deeply personal, sometimes harrowing, often funny story about a disease that affects millions of men. The heroes are his doctors and family, who put up with some appalling behavior. You’ll hear from both.