Alex Trebek Attends NBA Game on Christmas 9 Months After Announcing Cancer Diagnosis

How’s this for a courtside Christmas?

Longtime Jeopardy! host Alex Trebek attended the Los Angeles Lakers game on Wednesday night with his wife of 29 years, Jean Currivan Trebek.

Fans were delighted to see Trebek, who announced his diagnosis with stage 4 pancreatic cancer in March, looking happy and healthy at the event.

“Alex Trebek at the Laker game,” tweeted one. “Cancer patient and all. Still hosting Jeopardy. Still going to Laker games. Amazing man. Hoping for a long, healthy remainder of life for him.”

“Great to see Alex Trebek at the Lakers vs Clippers game!” tweeted another. “A true icon. Thinking of you constantly sir, and sending all the positive vibes for your health.”

Since announcing his diagnosis, Trebek, 79, has often expressed how much he’s appreciated the ongoing outpouring of love and well wishes from fans around the world. In May, he told PEOPLE that he had been responding extremely well to his first round of chemotherapy.

“I’ve got a couple million people out there who have expressed their good thoughts, their positive energy directed towards me and their prayers,” he said. “I told the doctors, this has to be more than just the chemo, and they agree it could very well be an important part of this.”

RELATED: Alex Trebek Releases New PSA to Raise Pancreatic Cancer Awareness — ‘I Wished I Had Known Sooner’

But in September, after a reversal of the initially positive results, Trebek announced that he was once again undergoing chemotherapy.

“I was doing so well and my numbers went down to the equivalent of a normal human being who does not have pancreatic cancer, so we were all very optimistic,” he said on Good Morning America. “They said, ‘Good, we’re going to stop chemo, we’ll start you on immunotherapy,’ and I lost about 12 lbs. in a week and my numbers went sky-high, much higher than they were when I was first diagnosed.”

Frederick M. Brown/Getty
Frederick M. Brown/Getty

While he told GMA at the time that he hoped to continue hosting Jeopardy! for as long as he could, he said in October that there may be a point in the not-too-distant future when he has to step away from the beloved game show.

“I will keep doing it as long as my skills do not diminish, and they have started to diminish,” he told Canada’s CTV News. “I’m sure there are observant members of the television audience that notice also, but they’re forgiving. But there will come a point when [fans and producers] will no longer be able to say, ‘It’s okay.’ “

RELATED: Alex Trebek’s Wife Jean Opens Up About Relying on Her Faith During His Difficult Cancer Treatment

Regardless, Trebek isn’t letting his diagnosis stop him from checking items off of his bucket list. Earlier this month, he enlisted Don McLean to perform at his annual Christmas party, as seen in PEOPLE’s exclusive photos from the night.

“I sent an email to Don’s people on his website and here we are tonight,” Trebek told the crowd at the party. “I can officially take this off of my bucket list. This was a real treat for me.”

Jeremy Westby/2911 Media
Jeremy Westby/2911 Media

The party was entirely planned and executed by Trebek personally, and the TV host even hand-picked the seven songs McLean performed for the crowd.

“I had never met Alex and normally I just come in and do my thing,” said McLean, 74. “When I arrived, Alex handed me a piece of paper with a list of songs he wanted me to perform and in the order he wanted them performed in. Then when I looked next to each song, he had timed them out.”

“I looked at Alex and said, ‘Well, tonight is your night and I will do exactly what you want,'” he continued. “And that is what I did. Except I did toss in one Christmas song in the spirit of the event! Alex is a wonderful man and is loved by the world.”