“Jeopardy!” host Alex Trebek on Wednesday shared some highly personal and devastating news with his fans via YouTube. The 78-year-old television icon announced he has been diagnosed with stage 4 pancreatic cancer.
Trebek is upbeat in the video, even quipping that he plans to beat the illness and continue working because he still has three years left on his current “Jeopardy!” contract.
“I plan to beat the low survival rates for this disease,” Trebek remarks in the video, noting that 50,000 people each year are diagnosed with pancreatic cancer.
In 2017, Trebek underwent brain surgery to treat blood clots. He made a speedy recovery and returned to his game show hosting duties one month later.
Trebek has hosted “Jeopardy!” since 1984, totalling more than 8,000 episodes to date.
“Help me. Keep the faith. And we’ll win. We’ll get it done,” Trebek says to his fans, asking for their prayers, as he closes out the video.
