"Jeopardy!" host Alex Trebek announces he has stage 4 pancreatic cancer
Source: Omaha World Herald-CNN
"Jeopardy" host Alex Trebek is hoping for a victory as he wages a battle against cancer.
The longtime game show host on Wednesday announced he's been diagnosed with stage 4 pancreatic cancer in a video posted to the show's YouTube account.
"Now, normally, the prognosis for this is not very encouraging, but I'm going to fight this. And I'm going to keep working and with the love and support of my family and friends -- and with the help of your prayers also -- I plan to beat the low survival rate statistics for this disease," he said.
Trebek also joked: "Truth told, I have to because under the terms of my contract, I have to host 'Jeopardy' for three more years. So help me. Keep the faith, and we'll win. We'll get it done."
This story is developing and will be updated.
Read more: https://www.omaha.com/news/national/jeopardy-host-alex-trebek-announces-he-has-stage-pancreatic-cancer/article_2a2b5b1f-1afd-5a7d-b0ed-80da33a37f31.html
hlthe2b
(101,730 posts)I wish him the best possible treatment and outcome.
JI7
(89,182 posts)The show existed for years before he hosted it.
Art Fleming was the host way before Trebek. Mr. Fleming was far more of a gentleman than Mr. Know-It-All Trebek.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeopardy!
The brilliant Merv Griffin produced the show, along with other programs.
Jeopardy! will continue.
Raine
(30,540 posts)I would watch when I was sick and home from school. Art Fleming will always be THE Jeopardy host for me but it was his choice to not do the show when it moved from New York to Los Angeles. Fleming was a real classy guy but I like Trebek too, it took a while for me to warm to him though.
whopis01
(3,467 posts)That is by far the majority of the years the show has been on. And the entirety of the 3rd incarnation of the show.
rpannier
(24,304 posts)I agree with you, I hope he gets the best outcome
YOHABLO
(7,358 posts)hlthe2b
(101,730 posts)I don't get the impression he's necessarily a Trumpist, but more an old school conservative and seemingly a lot less hard-core than Chuck Woolery or Pat Sajak
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2015/09/16/why-do-game-show-hosts-lean-republican/?utm_term=.0cd89d824385
bitterross
(4,066 posts)That's a really bad one.
Beacool
(30,244 posts)I wish him the best.
CTyankee
(63,771 posts)I wonder how long he has known this. He is so well composed on his show. We admire him.
cstanleytech
(26,082 posts)its a difficult cancer to detect in its early stages.
Drahthaardogs
(6,843 posts)It's a bad cancer to have
Haggis for Breakfast
(6,831 posts)you can have pancreatic cancer for 10-15 years before you get that diagnosis. And by then, it's too late. The fatality rate is 98%.
Miss Aretha was able to survive for so long (10 years) because her diagnosis was made very early on, and she totally restructured everything in her life to accommodate the illness.
BigmanPigman
(51,432 posts)or when it was detected. I know three people who died from it after only a being diagnosed with it a few months earlier.
shanny
(6,709 posts)for a different form of cancer from some years before.
CTyankee
(63,771 posts)cstanleytech
(26,082 posts)a number of organs in front of it as well as severe symptoms probably do not manifest until the cancer is well advanced.
Hassin Bin Sober
(26,273 posts)That was the case for my father in law. What sent him to the hospital was the jaundice from the metastasis to his liver. He was gone in six weeks from there. Brutal.
George II
(67,782 posts)Gothmog
(144,005 posts)LisaM
(27,762 posts)If I'd known, I'd have backed off. I wish him the best and hope he is the statistical anomaly.
He probably did co-ordinate the timing of the announcement so as not to distract from the tourney.
pdsimdars
(6,007 posts)Haggis for Breakfast
(6,831 posts)Endocrinologists will tell you that there are so many other types of conditions that are far more common (and therefore expected) than pancreatic dysfunction, and tracking those down takes it own time. It is really a process of elimination. And the time expended is ruling out all other problems leaves little time for treatment if it is eventually found to be pancreatic issues.
localroger
(3,605 posts)You can't do surgery on the pancreas because it creates digestive enzymes, and when you make any kind of incision those leak out and start digesting all the stuff they're normally isolated from by the internal structure of the pancreas. So surgical reduction of the cancer mass is impossible; all you can do is radiation and chemo, and you can't do radiation if the mass is too large because you'll kill too much of the non-cancerous pancreatic tissue too.
Pancreatic cancer is what got Randy "the last lecture" Pausch. In the Last Lecture video he looks healthy as a horse and does pushups -- but he'd seen the scans and informed himself as to what they mean. He knew, and six months after the lecture he was dead.
Haggis for Breakfast
(6,831 posts)It was inspirational. His thoughts on life and how much time and energy we waste on things that do not matter in the long run really opened my eyes. I made changes in my life after reading his book.
Hassin Bin Sober
(26,273 posts)My partner had the Steve Jobs kind - pnancreatic neuroendocrine tumor (PNET). They snipped the tail of his pancreas off without too much trouble. They took the spleen because they share a blood vessel. Threw in the gallbladder as part of the deal.
PNETs are a very survivable type of cancer if treated with surgery. Not so much with radiation and chemo. Jobs would be alive if he followed his doctors recommendation.
Edit to add: reading up on RBGs cancer, its not apparent which cancer she had. The adenocarcinoma (the really bad one) or the islet cell (PNET) not so bad one. Apparently they never disclosed her type. It sure sounds like she had a PNET. The surgery sounds a lot like my partners. Fortunately they both had the lesion at the tail so they didnt need the more radical Whipple Proceedure.
pdsimdars
(6,007 posts)Ace Rothstein
(3,109 posts)Over half of the people diagnosed with PC are stage 4 at time of diagnosis.
Raine
(30,540 posts)I wish him all the best..
stonecutter357
(12,682 posts)Xolodno
(6,341 posts)...hope he fulfills anything he wanted that he hasn't accomplished.
area51
(11,868 posts)I'd image they'll treat him for free instead of emptying his bank account like here in the states.
akraven
(1,975 posts)Hopefully the new treatments will work. Hang in there, Alex, please?
ADX
(1,622 posts)...why a person's politics matters to some people when that person is facing a life-and-death struggle against something as insidious as cancer.
Best wishes, Mr. Trebek; stay strong...