Feeling hopeful and lucky. The Jeopardy! Twitter account posted a new video of host Alex Trebek on Wednesday, March 4, as he revealed a health update, one year after sharing he was battling stage IV pancreatic cancer.
“The one-year survival rate for stage IV pancreatic cancer patients is 18 percent. I’m very happy to report I have just reached that marker,” the longtime host, 79, began in the video. “I’d be lying if I said the journey had been an easy one.”
Trebek first revealed his diagnosis to the world via Twitter in March 2019. He’s been open about his struggles but has explained that he will continue to host as long as he physically can.
“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,” he said in the video on Wednesday. “But I brushed that aside 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 would certainly have been a betrayal of my faith in God and the millions of prayers that had been said on my behalf.”
He stayed very hopeful at the end of his message, revealing that his oncologist tried to cheer him up recently.
“He said, ‘Alex, even though the two-year survival rate is only 7 percent,’ he was certain that one year from now the two of us would be sitting in his office celebrating my second anniversary of survival,” the Canada native 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.”
During an ABC special in January, the former To Tell the Truth host revealed that he already knows how he’ll end his final broadcast of Jeopardy!, whenever that may be: “I will say my goodbyes and I will tell people: ‘Don’t ask me who’s going to replace me because I have no say whatsoever. But I’m sure that if you give them the same love and attention and respect that you have shown me, then they will be a success and the show will continue being a success. And until we meet again, God bless you and goodbye.’”
