A Year After His Cancer Diagnosis, Alex Trebek Shares an Emotional Update

From Oprah Magazine

• Alex Trebek is opening up about his ongoing struggle with stage 4 pancreatic cancer.

• A year after his diagnosis, he shared an emotional message, updating fans on Twitter, sharing "The one-year survival rate for stage 4 pancreatic cancer patients is 18 percent. I'm very happy to report I have just reached that marker."

It's been a difficult year for Alex Trebek, though you wouldn't know it by watching him speak. Despite being diagnosed with stage 4 pancreatic cancer, the 79-year-old is in good spirits. He is also thankful.

In an emotional video posted to Jeopardy's Twitter account, the beloved host shared an update on his health, the emotional journey, and chemotherapy.

"Now, I'd be lying if I said 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."

"There were moments of great pain," he said. "Moments when certain bodily functions no longer functioned and some massive attacks of great depression that made me wonder if it was really worth fighting on."

He added, "But I brushed that aside very quickly, because that would have been a massive betrayal—a betrayal of my wife and soulmate, Jean, who has given her all to help me survive. 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 certainly would have been a betrayal of my faith in God and the millions of prayers that have been said on my behalf."

While two-year survival rate for pancreatic cancer is seven percent, he said in the clip, he assured followers that he plans to give yet another hopeful update next year.

"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," Trebek said. "And you know something, if I, no, if we—because so many of us are involved in this same situation—if we take it just one day at a time with a positive attitude, anything is possible. I'll keep you posted."

In a recent interview with WPXI, the Jeopardy host echoed similar sentiments, saying that going public with his private battle has been therapeutic.

"All of the cards and letters I've received [and those] giving me advice and offering prayers for me has really touched me," Trebek 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 said. "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.”

He continued, “I had no idea that our show and myself had such an impact on the lives of so many people out there."

This is not the first time Trebek has been humbled by his fans and peers. In November, the game show host was brought to tears when a contestant dedicated his final Jeopardy answer to Trebek.

"We [love] you, Alex!," Dhruv Gaur wrote, drawing a heart for the word "love."

As for Trebek's future on the show, he told Tomazic he will keep hosting as long as he can. "I will keep hosting as long as I can and as long as my skills don’t diminish," he said.

“I’m sure there are observant members of the television audience that notice [my health struggles] but they’re forgiving,” Trebek told CTV news last fall. “But there will come a point when they will no longer be able to say, ‘It’s okay.'" When that day comes, Trebek will say his goodbyes.

"What I would do on that day is tell the director, ‘Time the show down to leave me 30 seconds at the end,'" Trebek said in an ABC special. "That’s all I want."

As for those fighting similar health battles, Trebek’s message is clear: "My response has been the same for all of these people. Let’s both agree that we are going to become survivors.”

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