Alex Trebek celebrates beating the one-year survival rate for stage 4 pancreatic cancer patients

Alex Trebek celebrated beating the one-year survival rate for stage 4 pancreatic cancer patients with a heartfelt video shared to his legions of fans.

The 79-year-old famed Jeopardy host admitted that his journey hasn’t been easy and he’s battled with bouts of ‘great depression’ through the process.

He remained optimistic about reaching two years of recovery, though, with support from his wife and ‘soulmate’ Jean, in addition to the ‘millions of prayers’ sent from well-wishers around the world. 

‘The one year survival rate for stage 4 pancreatic cancer patients is 18 percent,’ he said. ‘I’m very happy to report I have just reached that marker.’

Alex revealed his diagnosis in March 2019 after seeking medical advice following stomach pains.  

‘I’d be lying if I said the journey had been an easy one,’ he admitted. ‘There were some good days but a lot of not so good days. I joked with friends that cancer won’t kill me, the chemo treatments will. 

There were 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.’

Trebek did his best to release the challenging feelings surrounding his serious illness and focused on staying positive. 

‘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,’ he said.

Alex has been married to real estate project manager Jean Currivan since 1990 and the couple has two children together, Matthew and Emily.  

‘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,’ he added.

‘And, it would have certainly been a betrayal of my faith in God and the millions of prayers that have been said on my behalf.’

Trebek joked with his doctors that this was just the beginning of his battle back to peak health.

‘My oncologist tried to cheer me up the other day, he said, “Alex, even though the two year survival rate is only seven percent,” he was certain that one year from now, the two of us would be sitting in his office celebrating my second anniversary of survival,’ he said.

‘And you know something, if I — no … if we, because so many of us are involved in the same situation — if we take it just one day at a time with a positive attitude, anything is possible. I’ll keep you posted.’