Alex Trebek Says He Will Stop Cancer Treatment if the Latest Round Is Not Successful
While speaking with The New York Times, longtime Jeopardy! host Alex Trebek gave an update on the treatment plan for his stage 4 pancreatic cancer.
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The 79-year-old explained that he plans to stop treatment if his current round isn’t successful. He said he is struggling with side effects of the chemo, including pain that keeps him awake at night: “Yesterday morning my wife came to me and said, ‘How are you feeling?’ And I said, ‘I feel like I want to die.’ It was that bad,” he told the New York Times.
Trebek went on to say,
“There comes a time where you have to make a decision as to whether you want to continue with such a low quality of life, or whether you want to just ease yourself into the next level. It doesn’t bother me in the least.” Despite having those feelings, the beloved host says that taping for Jeopardy!, which he began hosting in 1984, is helping build his strength.
“Oddly enough, when we started taping I suddenly started to regain my strength,” he said, after noting that he could hardly get out of bed in the morning. “It’s the strangest thing. It is some kind of an elixir.”
Since the coronavirus shutdown, Trebek has taped introductions to yet-unaired episodes of the popular quiz show. Once production eventually resumes, Trebek the 79-year-old plans to keep making the show for as long as he can.
Trebek’s rep told PEOPLE Magazine says he is “currently doing well.”
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