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Alex Trebek Shares an Honest and Inspiring Update 1 Year After His Cancer Diagnosis

"I’d be lying if I said the journey had been an easy one. "

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It’s hard to believe it’s already been a year since Alex Trebek announced he is battling stage four pancreatic cancer. In that time, the Jeopardy! host has received support from countless fans and celebrities, like fellow cancer fighter Olivia Newton-John.

Now, Trebek is opening back up in an honest and inspiring video update on how he’s been coping with the disease over the past 12 months.

“I’d be lying if I said the journey had been an easy one. There were some good days, but a lot of not so good days,” he admitted in a video released on March 4. He went into more detail, saying, “There were moments of great pain, days when certain bodily functions no longer functioned, and sudden massive attacks of great depression that made me wonder if it was really worth fighting on… But I brushed that aside quickly, because it would have been a massive betrayal.”

Not just a massive betrayal to himself, but to his “wife and soul mate Jean, who has given her all to help me survive.” Trebek went on to say it would also be a betrayal to “other cancer patients who have looked to me as an inspiration and a cheerleader of sorts of the value of life and hope… and it certainly would have been a betrayal of my faith in God and the millions of prayers that have been said on my behalf.”

Take a look below to hear all of Trebek’s beautiful message:

Just like Trebek and his doctor, we hope to be celebrating his second year of survival next year, too — and many more after that.

In the meantime, we can keep his wise words in our hearts any time we find ourselves struggling to find hope in our own lives: “If we take it just one day at a time with a positive attitude, anything is possible.”

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