Alex Trebek Reports Good Response To Chemotherapy In Cancer Battle

Alex Trebek might be on a winning streak of his own: His stage 4 pancreatic cancer is responding well to chemotherapy, the longtime Jeopardy! host reports.

In a People magazine cover story, Trebek says his doctors report he’s in “near remission” of the cancer that typically has a 9 percent survival rate.

“It’s kind of mind-boggling,” Trebek, 78, tells People. “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 Jeopardy! host will go through several more rounds of chemo, with the goal of full remission. He says that he cried when he got the good news, but “they were tears of joy, not tears of depression.” Trebek has candidly spoken about his “surges of sadness” after receiving the diagnosis.

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People also quotes Trebek about occasionally feeling weak, but how fan support provides relief. “I’ve got a couple million people out there who have expressed their good thoughts, their positive energy directed towards me and their prayers,” he says. “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.”