Alex Trebek Has Sad News

The 'Jeopardy' host has pancreatic cancer
By Neal Colgrass,  Newser Staff
Posted Mar 6, 2019 6:45 PM CST

In his usual steady voice, Alex Trebek revealed Wednesday that he's facing the fight of his life: stage 4 pancreatic cancer, CNN reports. "Now, normally, the prognosis for this is not very encouraging, but I'm going to fight this," the 78-year-old says in a video on Jeopardy's YouTube account. "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." Indeed, the American Cancer Society says people across all stage of pancreatic cancer have on average a 9% chance of surviving for five years. But if there's anyone getting widespread support, it's Trebek.

"There is no one I know who is stronger and more determined, and I would never bet against him," tweets Pat Sajak. "We, and the entire country, are pulling for you, Alex." And NBC News quotes Ken Jennings, the owner of Jeopardy's longest winning streak, who calls Trebek "in a way the last Cronkite" and a "reassuring TV voice" on primetime every night: "One thing I know for a fact: Alex is very aware of how much he means to millions of people, and how we will be pulling for him...I hope that's a comfort," he tweets. Trebek had surgery over the 2017-2018 holiday season to remove blood clots from his brain, Entertainment Tonight reported at the time, and was already thinking of possible Jeopardy successors: LA Kings play-by-play man Alex Faust and CNN legal analyst Laura Coates. (More Alex Trebek stories.)

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