Alex Trebek Responding Well To Cancer Treatment, With Some Tumors Shrinking 50 Percent
Alex Trebek, the beloved host of Jeopardy, gave an encouraging report this week about his ongoing cancer battle.
The host told People in an interview that his cancer is in “near remission.”
“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,” Trebek told the magazine.
Trebek was diagnosed earlier this year with stage 4 pancreatic cancer, a prognosis with a very bleak survival rate.
The 78-year-old host, who first announced his diagnosis in a video back in April, said in an interview earlier this month that he has suffered from “surges of deep sadness” during his treatment, per The Inquisitr. He told Robin Roberts of Good Morning America in an interview that while he was used to physical pain from past medical battles, the mental pain is a new thing for him.
Trebek has also stated on more than one occasion how much he appreciates the support he’s gotten from his friends and fans. And while Jeopardy is currently on a summer hiatus, Trebek has vowed repeatedly to come back to work when the show resumes production in the fall.
“I think I’ve learned that I’m an extremely lucky individual, because in spite of the fact this diagnosis is not a good one, I’ve managed to receive so much love from so many people,” Trebek told Roberts in the Good Morning America interview.
Almost three months after "Jeopardy!" host announced stage 4 pancreatic cancer diagnosis, Alex Trebek reveals that he is "near remission." https://t.co/OAVvcGobiy
— ABC News (@ABC) May 29, 2019
A report last week, per The Inquisitr, said that Trebek had begun to look frail and even lose his hair amid the cancer battle.
“He looked so old and tired — that’s the only way I could describe it,” a bystander who recently saw Trebek leaving a medical facility told Radar Online. “I don’t know if he was on medication or had just had treatment, but he was holding on to the car door for dear life, taking tiny steps while trying to maintain his balance as he got in the car.”
The sympathy for Trebek in his medical battle has coincided with contestant James Holzhauer going on one of the most notable runs of success in the history of Jeopardy. This has led the series to its highest ratings in 14 years, per The Hollywood Reporter. As of Tuesday, per The Wrap, Holzhauer was just $325,143 away from Ken Jennings’ record for Jeopardy earnings. Jennings earned $2,520,700 over the course of 74 games during his own run in 2004.
