(CelebrityAccess) — Alex Trebek, the longtime host of the game show “Jeopardy” shared a video update on his health on Wednesday, marking the one-year anniversary of his ongoing battle with stage-4 pancreatic cancer.
In the video, the beloved game show host said that while his prognosis still seems bleak, he has, thus far, managed to beat the odds.
“Hi, everyone. If you’ve got a minute I’d like to bring you up to date on my health situation. The one-year survival rate for stage 4 pancreatic cancer patients is 18 percent. I’m very happy to report I have just reached that marker,” Trebek said in a video posted to YouTube on Wednesday.
Trebek also discussed the challenges of his aggressive treatment and how much the support from his family, friends, and fans has meant for him as he faces the ordeal of chemotherapy.
“Now, I’d be lying if I said the journey had been an easy one. There were some good days but a lot of not-so-good days. I joked with friends that the cancer won’t kill me, the chemo treatments will. There were moments of great pain, days when certain bodily functions no longer function and sudden, massive attacks of great depression that made me wonder if it really was worth fighting on,” he said.
“But I brushed that aside quickly because that would have been a massive betrayal — a betrayal of my wife and soulmate, Jean, who has given her all to help me survive. It would have been a betrayal of other cancer patients who have looked to me as an inspiration and a cheerleader of sorts of the value of living and hope, and it certainly would have been a betrayal of my faith in God and the millions of prayers that have been said on my behalf,” Trebek added.
Trebek, who is 79, has hosted “Jeopardy” since the televised trivia quiz show was revived in 1984.
