Canadian icon and host of the game show “Jeopardy!” Alex Trebek has announced that he has been diagnosed with advanced pancreatic cancer.
"I wanted to be the one to pass along this information," Trebek said in his announcement in a YouTube video posted on Wednesday. "Just like 50,000 other people in the United States each year, this week I was diagnosed with Stage 4 pancreatic cancer."
Trebek, who has been the host of Jeopardy since 1984, said the prognosis for this type of cancer is not encouraging, but added that he intends to fight it and continue working.
"With the love and support of my family and friends, and with the help of your prayers also, I plan to beat the low survival rate statistics for this disease," he said
The 78-year-old joked that he would have to beat the disease because, "under the terms of my contract, I have to host 'Jeopardy!' for three more years."
Trebek was born in Sudbury, Ontario and he attended the University of Ottawa before hosting a number of CBC TV programs early in his career. He moved to the United States in the 1970s and became an American citizen in 1998. He has two children with his wife Jean Currivan.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=71&v=7cInGyxCY9k