Alex Trebek has some very unfortunate news to share. About four months after the Jeopardy! host told fans he was in ” near remission ” after having been diagnosed with stage four pancreatic cancer… … the beloved television personality is here to say otherwise. In an interview that aired on Tuesday’s Good Morning America, the long-running Jeopardy! host revealed that he’s once again undergoing chemotherapy. “The doctors have decided that I have to undergo chemo again and that’s what I’m doing,” Trebek explained, adding: “I was doing so well and my numbers went down to the equivalent of a normal human being who does not have pancreatic cancer, so we were all very optimistic. “They said, ‘Good, we’re gonna stop chemo, we’ll start you on immunotherapy’ and I lost about 12 pounds in a week and my numbers went sky-high, much higher than they were when I was first diagnosed. It doesn’t sound like the 79-year old is feeling his best, either. Alex Trebek Offers Cancer Update “My hair started to grow back, but now I have to undergo chemo again, so what little hair I have grown [this summer] is going to disappear again,” he told GMA’s T.J. Holmes. “In terms of getting my strength back, that hasn’t happened, unfortunately.” Trebek, who revealed his cancer diagnosis on March 6 , has also lost a lot of weight of late. About 12 pounds in a week, to be exact. The host proceeded to tell GMA that “cancer is mysterious in more ways than one,” and that battling it has taken a tough toll on his body. “It has different effects on you,” he said. “For some reason, and I don’t understand why, occasionally it will cause excruciating pain in my lower back. Other times it’s fatigue, other times it’s nausea. It varies.” The terrible truth is that Trebek has one of the most aggressive types of cancer out there. The five-year survival rate is extremely small and the median survival rate for people diagnosed with stage four pancreatic cancer is three to six months. It is incurable. Trebek says he sometimes feels a “surge of sadness and depression,” but he also plans to continue hosting the game show for as long as he can “walk out and greet the contestants.” And as for death, Trebek said that he isn’t concerned. “I realize that there is an end in sight for me just as there is for everyone else,” he says. “One line that I have used for our staff in recent weeks and months is that when I do pass on, one thing they will not say at my funeral is, ‘Oh, he was taken too soon.'” But he disagrees with this predicted assessment. “I’m 79 years old. I’ve had one hell of a good life and I’ve enjoyed it. “And the thought of passing on doesn’t frighten me. It doesn’t. Other things do. The effect it’ll have on my loved ones, yes that bothers me, it makes me sad. “But the thought of myself moving on? Hey folks, it comes with the territory.” This is what Trebek said back in March: Just like 50,000 other people in the United States each year, this week I was diagnosed with stage IV pancreatic cancer. Now, normally the prognosis for this is not very encouraging, but I’m gonna fight this and I’m gonna keep working and with the love and support of my family and friends and with the help of your prayers also, I plan to beat the low survival rate statistics for this disease. We wish him all the best. View Slideshow: Celebrities Who Beat Cancer
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Alex Trebek Shares Sad Cancer Update, Needs Chemotherapy Again
