“Jeopardy!” host Alex Trebek shared a health replace, precisely one year after revealing his stage four pancreatic cancer diagnosis.
“The one-year survival rate for stage 4 pancreatic cancer patients is 18 percent,” Trebek, 79, stated in a video posted to social media. “I’m very happy to report I’ve just reached that marker.”
The recreation present host added that attaining this milestone concerned a mix of “good” and “bad” days.
“I’d joke with friends, ‘the cancer won’t kill me; the chemo treatments will,'” Trebek stated. “There were moments of great pain, days where certain bodily functions no longer functioned and sudden, massive attacks of great depression made me wonder if it was really worth fighting on.”
Yet, Trebek stated, he was impressed to forge forward due to his household, followers and religion.
Though the two-year survival fee of stage four pancreatic cancer is 7 p.c, he stated he and his oncologist are assured that they are going to be sitting collectively within the physician’s workplace this time subsequent year celebrating one other anniversary.
“If we take it just one day at a time with a positive attitude, anything is possible,” Trebek stated.
Since revealing his diagnosis, Trebek has labored to carry better consciousness to pancreatic cancer. In October, he launched a 60-second public service announcement in assist of the World Pancreatic Cancer Coalition, during which he detailed the dangers and the signs of the illness.
In the PSA, he stated signs can embrace new onset diabetes, unexplained weight reduction, the yellowing of the pores and skin or eyes and midback ache.
“I needed I had recognized sooner that the persistent abdomen ache I skilled previous to my diagnosis was a symptom of pancreatic cancer,” he stated.
Trebek, who has been the host of “Jeopardy!” since 1984, stated he plans to proceed working so long as he’s in a position to take action. He has additionally lately turn into recognized for his work aiding Los Angeles’ homeless neighborhood by way of a $100,000 donation to the Hope of the Valley Rescue Mission, a nonprofit group that goals to remove poverty and homelessness within the metropolis.
