“Jeopardy!” host Alex Trebek has been a staple in American living rooms for over nearly four decades.
And several months ago the 78-year-old announced to his audience that he was diagnosed with Stage 4 pancreatic cancer, which usually has bleak life expectancy consequences.
But the ‘Jeopardy!” host just gave the world a “mind-boggling” update to where his cancer diagnosis currently stands.
“Jeopardy!” has been on an absolute tear recently.
On Wednesday night, Holzhauer won his 30th consecutive game and added another $69,033 to his total.
Holzhauer’s 30-day winnings total is $2,323,971, which puts him less than $200,000 behind “Jeopardy!” champion Ken Jennings, whose all-time regular play winning record is $2,520,700.
It’s really astounding to watch Holzhauer dominate the competition but he did have a scare on Monday evening’s episode.
Although Holzhauer has dominated the “Jeopardy!” news this year, Alex Trebek’s Stage 4 pancreatic cancer diagnosis was a shockwave that rippled through America.
And now it seems as though there’s some great news on the horizon because Trebek just claimed his cancer is near remission.
Speaking to “People,” Trebek said, “It’s kind of mind-boggling. The doctors said they hadn’t seen this kind of positive result in their memory… some of the tumors have already shrunk by more than 50 percent.”
The “Jeopardy!” host admitted he cried “happy tears” upon hearing the news even though the pancreatic cancer didn’t seem to affect his duties as a game show host. But he did say on “Good Morning America” that the pain and depression as a result of the chemo was almost too much to handle. He said on the show, “What I’m not used to [is] dealing with the surges that come on suddenly of deep, deep sadness and it brings tears to my eye. I’ve discovered in this whole episode, ladies and gentlemen, that I’m a bit of a wuss.”
That’s the opposite of a wuss.
And fortunately for the audience that tunes in every night, there was no signs of that whatsoever. That’s what a true professional does after forty years on the job and it’s no wonder why he refused to give up his hosting duties when he was diagnosed.
He admitted, “I taped the show and then I made it to the dressing room on one occasion, just barely, before I writhed in pain and cried in pain. And I had 15 minutes before the next show. So, I got myself together and spasms of that kind usually last about 10 to 15 minutes. So, all right, here we go again: ‘Anybody got any pain pills?’ And, I don’t like taking pain pills. But I got through it.”
That is beyond brave and unbelievably courageous. The show just wouldn’t be the same without him and he probably knows that – that and he probably loves his job.
Trebek also told “People” recently, “I’ve got a couple million people out there who have expressed their good thoughts, their positive energy directed toward me and their prayers. I told the doctors, this has to be more than just the chemo, and they agreed it could very well be an important part of this. I’ve got a lot of love out there headed in my direction and a lot of prayers, and I will never ever minimize the value of that.”
Pancreatic cancer, especially at that late of stage, only has a nine-percent survival rate. But it’s important to note he still has several more rounds of painful chemotherapy before he’s in full remission.
Hopefully, Trebek will be around for a lot more years to come even if he decides to retire in the near future.