Less than three months after Alex Trebek revealed a bleak medical diagnosis, things are looking so much better. The Jeopardy! host previously disclosed to fans that he had stage 4 pancreatic cancer while defiantly insisting that he’d beat the illness. He later admitted to feeling sadness during his battle, which includes intense rounds of chemotherapy, but he continued taping his long-running game show while enduring severe pain. Now, Trebek has told People that his doctors believe he’s “near remission.”
That’s incredible news, given the 9 percent five-year survival rate for pancreatic cancer patients. Indeed, Trebek calls his medical update “kind of mind-boggling” while adding that some of his “tumors have already shrunk by more than 50 percent.” In addition to his medical care, Trebek believes that all the positive vibes coming his way have worked plenty of good:
“I’ve got a couple million people out there who have expressed their good thoughts, their positive energy directed towards me and their prayers. I told the doctors, this has to be more than just the chemo, and they agreed it could very well be an important part of this. 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 still has more rounds of chemotherapy to endure, but his doctors have also told him that they have never seen such a drastically positive response to a patient until he arrived. Here’s to hoping that this success continues until Trebek officially receives the all-clear signal.
(Via People)
