Marckini's Story

Tonight Bob Marckini, author of You Can Beat Prostate Cancer: And You Don't Need Surgery to Do It, spoke to the patients' group.

Before he was introduced, several alumni of the program greeted the current patients. They gave the bare outlines of their stories—their names, their original PSAs, the dates of their treatments, and their current PSAs. One had been treated 11 years ago; before treatment he had a PSA of 10; now his PSA was 0.45. Another was treated in 1992—early in the program; he now has a PSA of 0.4. A patient from Germany had the highest PSA of any patient ever treated here—a whopping 400. I didn't know PSAs could get that high. He was treated 9 years ago. His current PSA is 0.1. Encouraging. Very encouraging.

Marckini's talk was amusing. In the group of a hundred or so who gathered to listen to him, I doubt more than five had not read his book, so much of what he said refreshed our memories rather than giving us new information.

What interested me? His story, of course. It fit the outline I've presented like a glove. Here it is, organized in the stages of the Hero's Journey:

The Ordinary World: His father and older brother had both had prostate cancer, so he should have known he also would develop the disease, but it still seemed to come as a surprise.

The Call to Adventure: In 2000, he was diagnosed with prostate cancer. He immediately began to research all the methods of treatment—surgery, traditional radiation, radiological seeding, cryosurgery, hormone therapy, the works. Every practitioner assured him he was the ideal candidate for that doctor's chosen specialty, but most were reluctant to give him names of patients he might interview. He heard about Loma Linda and proton therapy, contacted them, and received the names of 50 alumni he could contact. He developed a 22-question survey and proceeded to contact them all, plus others that they referred him to.

The First Threshold: He told his urologist that he was going to undergo proton treatment at Loma Linda. The Shadow told him, "Fine. They'll burn a hole in your rectum, and you'll wear a colostomy bag the rest of your life." This urologist later admitted that he knew little or nothing about proton radiation at the time of his prophecy.

The Quest: Marckini underwent treatment and spent most of his time golfing.

Seizing the Reward: At the end of his treatment, there was no declaration of cure, but he understood that the cancer cells were programmed to die.

The Road Back: As his treatment neared an end, he and six other patients created a secret group, the Brotherhood of the Balloon (BOB) so they could stay in touch. The secret leaked out, and by the time he left for home in Boston, there were 19 members of the group.

Resurrection: His PSA gradually decreased until about a year later it reached its nadir of around 0.5 where it has remained ever since.

Sharing the Elixir: The membership list of BOB now is the size of a metropolitan phone book. BOB serves the tripartite mission of providing after-treatment support, helping others discover proton treatment, and giving back to LLUMC. In 2001, Marckini began writing his book which he published 5 years later. He edits a monthly 20-page newsletter, BOB Tales.

There it is. Again. The Proton Story. The mythic narrative that we each tell with our own nuances and that helps us make sense of this experience. And there again, the Quest proper is the least interesting component of the story. More about that later.

Treatment count: 27 down, 18 to go.