'Jeopardy!' host Alex Trebek passes critical point in pancreatic cancer battle
Game show host passed 1-year mark in fight with disease with low survival rates
Alex Trebek updated fans on social media Wednesday regarding his troubling battle against pancreatic cancer, roughly one year since the famed "Jeopardy!" host revealed his diagnosis.
In keeping with his long-time policy of being “open and transparent," the 79-year-old host revealed in a Twitter video that he met reached a milestone for the disease although the journey was not an easy one.
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"The one-year survival rate for stage 4 pancreatic cancer patients is 18 percent. I am very happy to report that I have just reached that marker.” Trebek said in a video clip posted to the show’s Twitter account. "Now, I would 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 joke with friends that the cancer won’t kill me, the chemo treatments will.”
Trebek announced his diagnosis of advanced pancreatic cancer last March and has continued to fight his battle publically ever since. As of Wednesday afternoon, the video garnered over 32,000 retweets, 140 likes and roughly 1.8 million views.
"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 added.
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However, the Emmy award-winning television star "brushed" those thoughts aside saying it would have been a "massive betrayal" to his wife Jean who Trebek says has given her all to help him survive, his fans, other cancer patients and his faith.
Trebek's oncologist recently said that even though the two-year survival rate for pancreatic cancer is slim, he is certain that one year from now the two of them would be celebrating Trebek's second anniversary of survival, the game show host said.
"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," Trebek said.
Within minutes of hitting the internet, Twitter users quickly rallied around the host, offering words of praise and support during his longstanding battle.
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“Keep fighting, Alex. You can and you will beat this,” one user wrote.
Another was thankful for receiving an update from Trebek.
“Thank you for keeping us updated Alex. Continued prayers for you to have a full recovery from this dreadful disease,” another tweeted.
With almost 8,000 episodes of "Jeopardy!" under his belt, Trebek has been at the helm of the longest-running quiz shows since 1984 and has made a household name for himself in the process.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.