‘Jeopardy!’ Host Alex Trebek Needs More Chemo For Pancreatic Cancer, Talks About Dying In Heartbreaking Interview

Jeopardy! host Alex Trebek announced that he has suffered a significant setback in his battle with pancreatic cancer and will need to undergo more chemo.

Trebek gave an interview to ABC’s Good Morning America and the Jeopardy! host gave an update on his fight against cancer. Sadly, the “numbers shot up” and “went sky-high” regarding his pancreatic cancer and doctors advised Trebek to undergo more chemotherapy.

“I lost about 12 pounds in a week and my numbers went sky-high, much higher than they were when I was first diagnosed,” Trebek explained. “So, the doctors have decided that I must undergo chemo again. So that’s what I’m doing.”

This came after a period of time when things were looking extremely “optimistic” in Trebek’s fight against stage 4 pancreatic cancer, which has a very low survival rate.

“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,” Trebek said in the new interview that aired on Tuesday morning.

Trebek was doing so well at the time that doctors stopped chemotherapy and start him on immunotherapy treatment.

Trebek, who has been the host of Jeopardy! since 1984, told the world that he had Stage 4 pancreatic cancer in March. In August, the 79-year-old game show host announced that he had completed chemotherapy and was taping Season 36 of Jeopardy!.

In the new GMA interview, Trebek said that he suffers “excruciating pain” in his lower back, fatigue and is nauseous at times. Trebek said that he never thought about quitting his Jeopardy! job and he hasn’t missed a single day of work despite going through agonizing rounds of chemo.

Trebek had two goals for the summer: to grow back his hair that he lost from chemo and to build back his strength. Sadly, those two objectives did not really happen for the Jeopardy! host and he said the progress has been “dismal.”

“There are moments when for no reason at all, I feel a surge of sadness, depression,” Trebek revealed. “It doesn’t last very long. But it just takes over my whole being for a short period of time.”

“One line that I have used with 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 from us too soon.'” Trebek joked. “Hey, guys. I’m 79-years-old.”

“I realize that there is an end in sight for me, just like there is for everyone else,” Trebek said. “I’ve had one hell of a good life and I’ve enjoyed it. The thought of passing on doesn’t frighten me. Other things do, the effect it will have on my loved ones… it makes me sad. But the thought of myself moving on, hey folks, it comes with the territory.”