Jeopardy!'s beloved host Alex Trebek was diagnosed with Pancreatic cancer three months ago. The 78-year-old has been open about what he's been going through, previously detailing how he's "writhed in pain and cried in pain" while he's been on set filming. Today brings about amazing news, since Alex has been informed by doctors that he's “near remission."
“It’s kind of mind-boggling,” he told 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.” According to doctors, the cancer has a nine percent survival rate but Alex has been responding so well to the chemotherapy that he's on the other side of the statistics.
Alex further explained to the publication that he still has severeal more rounds of chemotherapy to do, but he's elated at how far he's come and even shed a few tears. “But they were tears of joy, not tears of depression,” he explained.
“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 added. “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.”