Alex Trebek Opens Up About “Moments of Great Pain” 1 Year After Stage 4 Cancer Diagnosis
On Wednesday, Alex Trebek shared a health update as he reached the one-year mark since his stage 4 pancreatic cancer diagnosis in March 2019.
The Jeopardy! host said that the past year has been filled with ups and downs.
Trebek hopes to be an inspiration for those who are also going through health problems.
One year following his stage 4 pancreatic cancer diagnosis, Alex Trebek has officially surpassed the low odds of his prognosis, but the longtime Jeopardy! host admits that, though he’s “happy,” the past several months have extremely difficult for him.
On Wednesday, Trebek shared a health update on Twitter. “The one year survival rate for stage 4 pancreatic cancer is 18%. I’m very happy to report that I’ve just reached that marker,” he said in a video on the official Jeopardy! Twitter account.
“Now I’d be lying if I said that the journey had been an easy one. There were some good days, but a lot of not-so-good days. I joked with friends that the cancer won’t kill me, the chemo treatments will,” he said. “There were moments of great pain. Days when certain bodily functions no longer functioned, and sudden massive attacks of great depression that made me wonder if it really was worth fighting on.”
A one-year update from Alex: pic.twitter.com/W9101suZeZ
— Jeopardy! (@Jeopardy) March 4, 2020
But the beloved host hasn’t given up. “I brushed that aside quickly, because that would’ve been a massive betrayal—a betrayal for my wife and soulmate, Jean, who has given her all to help me survive,” he said.
“It would have been a betrayal of other cancer patients who have looked to me as an inspiration, and a cheerleader of sorts of the value of living and hope. And it would certainly have been a betrayal of my faith in God and the millions of prayers that have been said on my behalf,” he said.
Trebek feels confident that he’ll be able to come back a year from now and defy the odds of his prognosis once again. “You know, my oncologist tried to cheer me up the other day, he said ‘Alex, even though the two-year survival rate is only 7%’ he was certain that one year from now the two of us would be sitting in his office celebrating my second anniversary of survival,” he said in the video. “And you know something, if I, no, if we—because so many of us are involved in the same situation—if we take it just one day at a time, with a positive attitude, anything is possible.”
He then promised to keep his fans updated on his health in the weeks to come. Trebek’s fans flooded the post with messages of love and support. “Keep fighting, Alex. You can and you will beat this!” one fan replied.
“Alex Trebek is an inspiration for so many patients, doctors, and human beings. He has a fighting spirit that is as powerful as anything modern medicine has to offer. Because no matter how advanced our treatments and chemotherapy can be, it’s the will to fight that matters most,” wrote another.
Trebek is grateful for the support he receives from his fans. In an interview with WPXI, the Jeopardy! host told Jennifer Tomazic that speaking out about his health has been therapeutic for him. And yes, he reads your letters!
“All of the cards and letters I’ve received [and those] giving me advice and offering prayers for me has really touched me,” he said.
“Some people would say that’s a bad deal that Alex has got. But there are a lot of people out there who have been informed that they have cancer, they have heart problems, serious other diseases, they have Parkinson’s, whatever, you name it,” he continued. “But they don’t have that great outpouring of warmth and prayerful thoughts coming from people all over America. That’s been a great help to me.”
“I had no idea that our show and myself had such an impact on the lives of so many people out there,” he said. And he wants those who are also experiencing health problems to stay strong. “Let’s both agree that we are going to become survivors.”
A post shared by Jeopardy! (@jeopardy) on Nov 21, 2019 at 6:00am PST
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