He vowed he would beat it which sounded like wishful thinking. {1} Pancreatic cancer has the lowest five-year survival rate of any major form of cancer. Only about 8% of patients are alive five years after their diagnosis. And because Trebek’s cancer wasn’t found until it had spread, the survival statistics for him are even more grim. For patients with stage 4 pancreatic cancer, the five-year survival rate is only 3%. {2} Pancreatic cancer has a low profile compared to other common cancers. There is no “Race for the Cure” like there is for breast cancer. You probably didn’t even know that a purple ribbon is the symbol for pancreatic cancer awareness. But it actually kills more Americans than breast cancer. It’s the third leading cause of cancer death behind lung and colon cancers. {3} Pancreatic cancer seems to make headlines only when a celebrity like Trebek gets it. And it seems to kill a disproportionate number of the rich and famous. Victims include Apple founder Steve Jobs, opera singer Luciano Pavarotti, composer Henry Mancini, astronaut Sally Ride, trumpeter Dizzy Gillespie, actress Donna Reed, and actors Patrick Swayze and Michael Landon. {4}
Alex Trebek celebrated a new milestone with his health yesterday in a video posted by the Jeopardy! twitter page. That the game-show host had survived one year into his treatment for pancreatic cancer. The one-year survival rate for the diagnosis is just 18 percent, a marker he has just reached. “There were moments of great pain, days when certain bodily functions no longer functioned and sudden, massive attacks of great depression that made him wonder if it really was worth fighting on,”
the game show host said.
The 79-year-old said he pushed those feelings aside to keep fighting for his wife, Jean, and other cancer patients who look up to him. Trebek said that the two-year survival rate for Stage 4 pancreatic cancer patients is seven percent, but that his oncologist is certain that he will be celebrating his second anniversary of survival next year. “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.
Last March Alex Trebek announced that he was diagnosed with stage 4 pancreatic cancer and in May, he announced that his treatment was going well and his tumors had shrunk by over 50 percent. Unfortunately, by September 2019, those numbers were up again and he had to continue treatment.
He has said he will continue hosting Jeopardy! until his skills diminish to a point where he feels like he can no longer host. Trebek stated in the new video. “I’m very happy to report that I have just reached that marker.
Now I’d be lying if I said the journey was an easy one. There were some good days but a lot
of not-so-good days.” He said he joked with his friends that if the cancer didn’t kill him, then
the chemo would. Read on to learn more about Trebek’s health update. Trebek previously stated during an ABC News special that one of the side effects he experienced while undergoing chemotherapy was depression. He said that his oncologist told him that one symptom could
be moments of depression. Things haven’t changed much for Trebek when it comes to those moments of depression. “There were also 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,” the 79-year-old said. “But I brushed that aside quickly because that would have been a massive betrayal.”
He said giving up would be a betrayal of his wife Jean and of other cancer patients who have looked to Trebek as an inspiration, and a betrayal of his faith in God and the “millions of prayers that have been said on my behalf.” Fans have sent Trebek well-wishes and gifts since first hearing of his diagnosis. In previous updates, he’s thanked fans for all the cards and letters. There was also a moment where he teared up after a Jeopardy! A contestant wrote,
“What is We love you, Alex” during Final Jeopardy instead of answering the question. Because of the cancer diagnosis, it’s no longer an open-ended life, it’s a closed-ended life because of the terrible… survival rates of pancreatic cancer.” Alex’s wife Jean opened up about the hardest part of his cancer battle, telling Michael, “For me, it’s when I see him in pain and I can’t help him. When asked if she wanted Alex to take a break from the show, Jean said,
“Yes, to my girlfriends, yes. But I know its what feeds him. He loves doing ‘Jeopardy!’ He has
his own family over there. They are such a close-knit, beautiful group of people. I think that gives him
a lot of support. A sense of purpose and that he’s just not in bed and can be productive.” Alex admitted, “Its always tough for the caretakers because she has to deal with her worrying for my well-being and also dealing with there’s… I know I’m not always the most pleasant person to be around when I am experiencing severe pain and depression, “Some days are better than others,” and she has to tread lightly around me.” Alex and Jean have been married for 30 years. They have two children, son Matthew, 30, and daughter Emily, 27.
Trebek told reporters at the Langham Huntington hotel in Pasadena. “My resistance is lower than most of you, of course, because of the treatments. I’ve been having chemotherapy as you can tell. I have a cold that seems to be going around, but this is the second time I’ve had it the past month and a half.” The longtime “Jeopardy!” host of 36 years has spoken openly about undergoing treatment for pancreatic cancer.
READ NEXT: When Did Alex Trebek Start Hosting ‘Jeopardy’?
Trebek remarked that he had seen some recently edited “Jeopardy!” episodes, and that he noticed he “seemed a little slower in the ad-lib portions.” He also pointed out that he was wearing a hairpiece, having lost his hair due to the chemo treatments. Trebek was joined on stage by executive producer Harry Friedman, along with three competitors on “Jeopardy! Greatest of All Time”– Ken Jennings, James Holzhauer and Brad Rutter. The trio of former contestants wore purple ribbons pinned to their shirts in support of pancreatic cancer.
Rutter added. one thing I realized we won’t be here forever and nobody knows for sure when there own time is up. “Realizing also Alex won’t be hosting the show forever, so it’s made it that much more special to come and see him and watch him do his thing. He’s absolutely the best whose ever done it. He’s very modest, and he’ll tell you nobody owes him anything, but we all know that there wouldn’t be any ‘Jeopardy!’ without Alex.”
“They’re doing it because they’re here today, as a tribute to me. I was very touched by that,” Trebek said. The champions also weighed in on whether Trebek’s treatment has affected them emotionally while filming Greatest of All Time. “It’s very special for us because we know that Alex has been with the show for 36 years, not gonna get too many more chances to play with him there. Hard for us to even imagine — if anyone’s irreplaceable on TV, it’s this guy here,” Jennings said. “The fact that we got to play with him one more time was very special.”
Alex Trebek Has Planned His ‘Jeopardy!’ Exit Speech:
‘Leave Me 30 Seconds at the End’ (Video)
This Treatment Could Save Alex Trebek
There’s a new treatment that gives Trebek a chance to beat cancer. It’s called intra-arterial chemotherapy. {5}It has far fewer side effects than conventional chemo. And it’s getting dramatic results in pancreatic cancer patients. The treatment delivers chemo drugs directly to arteries that lead to pancreatic tumors. This serves two purposes. It reduces side effects, since less of the chemo drug hits healthy tissue. And it lessens the cancer’s ability to shut down its blood supply to protect itself.
Chris Parrish of Bangor, Maine, knows what it’s like to be in Alex Trebek’s shoes. She was diagnosed with advanced pancreatic cancer and given just a 2% chance to live. She underwent intra-arterial chemo, which was highly experimental at the time. In addition, Chris worked with a naturopathic practitioner who put her on five natural therapies:
Vitamin D
Multivitamins
Green tea
Fish oil
Acupuncture
These treatments reduced Chris’s nausea and other side effects caused by chemo. “They helped me tremendously,” Chris said. That doesn’t mean she didn’t have any side effects. “The intra-arterial chemotherapy, in particular, was intense,” she said. “But it knocked my tumor markers down dramatically. I went through four rounds of it. “I experienced nausea, low blood cell and platelet counts, and hair loss. But progressively, I started getting better and feeling stronger.”
She had chemo for two years, starting in 2008. “The first year was really hard,” she said. “In the second year, I felt as though my body regenerated itself. I ate right and took the natural therapies my naturopathic clinician prescribed. “I did a ton of juicing. I juiced apples, carrots, red grapes, pineapple, strawberries, blueberries, and cantaloupe.”
Her cancer went into remission.
And on the two-year anniversary of her diagnosis, she drank two Guinness beers to celebrate.
The next year it was three.
It has now been more than nine years since her diagnosis. She’s still cancer-free. She can’t drink nine Guinness beers, so she celebrates in other ways. “I go golfing. It has become my new passion. When I’m not golfing, I’m at the beach. I’m not indoors until the sun goes down.
“I am Like A Kid… I don’t want to miss a thing.”
Pancreatic Cancer Survival Rates Are Getting Higher!
Thanks to intra-arterial chemo and other advances, pancreatic cancer survival rates are inching up. In just the last two years, five-year survival has gone from 5% to slightly more than 8 percent. {6} That may not seem like much. But it means 60% more patients are living at least five years after their diagnosis. This year, more than 55,000 Americans are expected to be diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. Improvements in treatment mean 1,600 patients will survive who would have died in the past. {7}
After his diagnosis, Trebek said, “Normally, the prognosis for this is not very encouraging. But I’m going to fight this. I plan to beat the low survival-rate statistics for this disease.” After Trebek’s diagnosis, Chris Parrish posted a message to him on her Facebook page. It read: “You CAN do this Alex Trebek!” She is proof of that.
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