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Alex Trebek Dies at 80-Years-Old: ‘Jeopardy!’ Host’s Pancreatic Cancer Battle in His Own Words

Alex Trebek passed away from pancreatic cancer. The famed Jeopardy! host has been vocal about his battle with the terrible disease.

What Alex Trebek Had to Say

“I’m not afraid of dying,” he told CTV News in an interview. “I’ve lived a good life, a full life, and I’m nearing the end of that life … if it happens, why should I be afraid of that? One thing they’re not going to say at my funeral, as a part of a eulogy, is ‘He was taken from us too soon.’”

Trebek revealed that he has regretted going public with his cancer treatments and diagnosis. He felt like he was everywhere and he became a spokesperson for people with pancreatic cancer.

“A lot of people are coming to me and looking for help, reassurance — and that’s tough,” he admitted. He added that it was hard to be optimistic at times, especially when others are asking for it. “I don’t know if I was strong enough or intelligent enough to help alleviate that despair,” he said.

As for his work, he hosted the show until the very end. He told media that he would continue to host the show as long as his skills did not diminish. “There are weaknesses I feel in my body but I can always suck it up when it comes to tape the show,” he added.

His Treatments

For Trebek, immunotherapy did “diddly squat.” “[I] went all the way down to numbers that correspond with a normal human being without cancer,” he explained. “Then all of a sudden, it blew up and went 50 percent higher than when it was first diagnosed. Go figure.”

After the immunotherapy didn’t take, he went back to chemotherapy. He revealed that chemo has made his eyesight fuzzy, created mouth sores, and had joint pain.

“So we’re back on the chemo and we’ll see if the numbers go down,” he said in October of 2019. “And if they do… they can’t keep doing it forever of course. They’ll have to find a new protocol or whatever to administer. We’ll play it by ear and keep chugging along until we either win or lose.”

Trebek passed away on November 8 due to complications from pancreatic cancer.