Alex Trebek ‘doing well’ with cancer but treatment leaves him with bouts of ‘deep, deep sadness’

By | May 6, 2019

Jeopardy! host Alex Trebek says his cancer indicators have gone down — but his well-being hasn’t necessarily improved accordingly.

“My oncologist says I’m doing well even though I don’t always feel it,” Trebek said Wednesday on Good Morning America, joking that he has discovered he is “a big wuss.”

Trebek, who was diagnosed this year with stage 4 pancreatic cancer, explained that his chemotherapy treatments have brought on surges of “deep, deep sadness.”

The treatment affects people in different ways, he said, and “there’s nothing wrong in saying I’m really depressed today and I have no idea why.”

In an honest discussion with host Robin Roberts, who is a breast cancer survivor, Trebek shared details that some battling the disease might have kept to themselves.

He did so, he said, to draw “attention to this particular type of devastating cancer.”

Pancreatic cancer, which is almost always found in patients over age 45, has the highest mortality rate of all major cancers. Often, it is diagnosed too late.

As The Washington Post previously reported:

“The National Cancer Institute tracked patients’ survival rates from the time of diagnosis and found that by the five-year mark, only nine per cent of pancreatic cancer patients remained alive.

“In 2016, the disease became the third-leading cause of cancer-related deaths in the United States, overtaking breast cancer, and it is expected to overtake colorectal cancer to become the second-leading cause of cancer-related deaths in the country by 2020, according to the Pancreatic Cancer Action Network. (The leading cause remains lung cancer.)”

Read More:  Got a stress headache? This 5-minute routine brings relief - CNN

Trebek said Wednesday, “Pretty soon, we’re going to come up with the cure.” Until then, he vowed to continue educating and informing the public.

Jeopardy! host Alex Trebek. Ben Hider/Getty Images/File

The Good Morning America segment closed with Trebek discussing Jeopardy! sensation James Holzhauer, the reigning winner on the show. The 34-year-old professional gambler has already won $ 1.5 million in half the time of 74-game-winner Ken Jennings.

Holzhauer has rocked Trebek’s belief that Jennings’s record of winning the most games would never be broken. Now, he’s not so sure.

“(Holzhauer) has no weaknesses,” Trebek said. “He knows how to play the game, has a strategy,” he said, adding that the winning streak has also boosted show ratings.

With another chemo session scheduled next week, Trebek hopes to spend the summer growing stronger and return to original programming next season. Grateful to the many people who have reached out with stories of years-long survival, he said, “I am now a 30-day cancer survivor, but I’m going to catch up.”

European politics can seem distant. You have to squint and, lately, the first thing you often see is Anderson. As ever, you can hardly help it
Andrew Potter: Part of a seemingly invisible, indefinable generation, those in their 50s are grappling with their identity as relics of their time age with them
Never watched an episode of Game of Thrones? Fear not. Here’s what you need to know to talk about the characters who matter
How can people brought back from death after cardiac arrest report having experienced lucid and vivid memories and recollections without a functioning brain? The study of near-death experiences is challenging …

Health – National Post

Read More:  Cornerstone to Bring Learning into the Flow of Work, Powered by Microsoft Viva