Longtime “Jeopardy!” host Alex Trebek may have passed, but that doesn’t mean he can’t still influence us for the better.
Prior to his death at age 80 after an uphill battle with pancreatic cancer, the game show host took the time to record a Thanksgiving message that the show released on Thursday on its official Twitter account.
In the 20-second message, Trebek asked his fellow Americans to be thankful despite all the pain they have experienced.
“Happy Thanksgiving, ladies and gentleman. You know, in spite of what America and the rest of the world is experiencing right now, there are many reasons to be thankful. There are more and more people extending helpful hands to do a kindness to their neighbors, and that’s a good thing,” he said.
Trebek concluded his message by advising people to “keep the faith.”
“Keep the faith, we’re gonna get through all of this, and we will be a better society because of it,” Trebek said.
High on our list of things to be thankful for this year: Alex’s Thanksgiving message from today’s show. We hope you have a safe and happy Thanksgiving! pic.twitter.com/8OlpkSGi9r
— Jeopardy! (@Jeopardy) November 26, 2020
Trebek died on November 8 after a year and a half battle with stage 4 pancreatic cancer. As The Daily Wire reported, Trebek initially appeared to be on the mend after a first round of treatment that was eventually undone:
The TV icon, whose avuncular personality and biting wit made the daily show a must-see for millions of Americans, announced in March 2019 that he had been diagnosed with stage 4 pancreatic cancer. He went through chemotherapy after the diagnosis but said he had no plans to retire.
Trebek stayed on as host for another full year and talked openly about “massive attacks of great depression that made me wonder if it was really worth fighting on.”
In one statement at the end of a show, Trebek noted that the odds of surviving a second year with pancreatic cancer were just 7%, but said he hoped to be an outlier on that statistic.
Despite his overall positive message, Trebek did admit that he occasionally struggled with depression and sadness while battling the disease.
“My oncologist told me one of the symptoms, if you will, of pancreatic cancer is that you get these moments of depression, sadness,” Trebek said.
Trebek added that his wife, Jean, had to sometimes “tread lightly” in his presence as she took care of his difficult symptoms.
“It’s always tough for caretakers because [Jean] has to deal with her worrying about my well-being,” said Trebek. “I’m not always the most pleasant person to be around when I’m experiencing severe pain or depression, and she has to tread lightly around me.”
With that, Trebek reflected upon how his fight with pancreatic cancer helped him reflect upon his own mortality.
“I have learned something in the past year and it’s this: We don’t know when we’re going to die,” Trebek said. “Because of the cancer diagnosis, it’s no longer an open-ended life, it’s a closed-ended life because of the terrible … survival rates of pancreatic cancer. Because of that, and something else that is operating here, people all over America and abroad have decided they want to let me know now, while I’m alive, about the impact that I’ve been having on their existence.”
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