News of Alex Trebek’s stage four pancreatic cancer had “Jeopardy!” fans heartbroken for the game show icon. However, it seems his prognosis is looking much less grim now.
In a new cover story with People, Trebek reveals that his doctors have described him as “near remission.”
“It’s kind of mind-boggling. The doctors said they hadn’t seen this kind of positive result in their memory…some of the tumors have already shrunk by more than 50 percent,” the beloved show host says.
All of this goes against the 9 percent survival rate that exists for people with Trebek’s particular kind of cancer.
His battle isn’t over yet, with several more rounds of chemo on the horizon, but Trebek and fans alike are feeling hopeful with this great news.
“I’ve got a lot of love out there headed in my direction and a lot of prayer, and I will never ever minimize the value of that,” Trebek says.
Trebek revealed his diagnosis to fans in an emotional video that went live three months ago. He explained that he wasn’t expecting it to affect his commitment to “Jeopardy!,” and he had every intention of fighting this thing head on.
Fan support flooded in while everyone continued to watch Trebek power through episode after episode of the game show despite him reporting that he was in significant pain for a lot of filming.