Alex Trebek diagnosed with stage 4 pancreatic cancer.

Thank you for explaining that. In fact, a "comforting presence" is just as good of a phrase as any, because the fact is, when someone dies it's not so much that we mourn for them, otherwise we wouldn't use phrases like "Rest In Peace," and "They're In a Better Place Now," as hexes to ward off our own lose of comfort. To not have that person around anymore is disconcerting, confusing, and most of all self-absorbed, as human beings are wont to be.

That's not an harsh accusation nor a derision on humankind. We've always been absorbed in ritual and creature comforts, where death especially, is a mirror that reflects our own skeletal remains. Or, as Jimi Hendrix said, "People still mourn when people die. That’s self-sympathy. All human beings are selfish to a certain extent, and that’s why people get so sad when someone dies. They haven’t finished using him. The person who is dead ain’t crying."

Of course for Alex Trebek, he's not dead, but this is thread is certainly a death watch. There's nothing wrong with a "death watch." Moreover, I'm 100% positive that well-wishers in this thread are genuine in their concern for Alex. My point of contention - or, rather, the view I want to express - is that it's not really the loss of Alex; it's the loss of ourselves that Alex represents which brings us to a boil over this news. Because even if Alex survives this cancer and lives another 30 years, he will eventually die, just like the rest of us, where we can come back and "mourn" his passing when it happens...or more accurately, the lose over the comfort that he gave us.

 

THIS is NOT a good sign...

'Jeopardy!' host Alex Trebek is selling his California lakeside home for $1.39 million

- Darren

 

Tom Brokaw did the same thing, and he's still alive.

 

I wish him all the best. Even if he is 78, I'm sure he'd want 50 more years.
I never realized how much a handsome older gentleman he is without the mustache.

 

God bless this gentleman.

 

Brokaw didn’t have stage 4 pancreatic cancer did he?

 

He has multiple myeloma, cancer of the bones essentially.

John K

 

Yeah, that...and Peter Jennings quit smoking. He died from lung cancer anyway, after being clean from cigarettes for 20 years. What a trip.

 

Who does?

 

He said he started smoking again while covering 9/11.

 

Only for a little while. Like a lapse of a week. At least that's what is daughter inferred. Anway, I don't keep up with the Jennings. I just thought the irony was tough love from life.

 

early KLH is my guess. Model 6, perhaps.

 

Brokaw.

 

As a multiple myeloma survivor myself, overcoming a much less aggressive version of the disease than Mr. Brokaw has, I appreciate the struggle he's going through. If discovered early enough, modern treatment of multiple myeloma can possibly let a person enjoy a normal life span. Tom Brokaw took massive doses of chemotherapy for around a year, knocking the cancer down to nothing, and since then has been prescribed a constant, low level of the drug. (He wrote a terrific book about this.) Ingesting a poison ever day is not a great way to live but it's better than dying. I'm fortunate. Outside of major surgery and an extensive, months long treatment by radiation I went through back in 2001, I don't have to take anything for my disease and have been declared cured.

Alex Trebeck's case, from the type of cancer to its diagnosis at an advanced stage, is a completely different kettle of fish. Even with multiple myeloma, if its in stage 4 when discovered, you have a 100% chance of dying from it soon.

God save Alex Trebeck.

 

Glad to see you posting - keep it up for many decades!

 

From this morning's airing of the CBS News Sunday Morning: "Jeopardy!" host Alex Trebek on his cancer diagnosis.

 

That was an excellent piece.

He indicated he started chemo during the record setting Holzhauer run and mentioned having to wear a wig as the episodes draw on. He also said he's wearing it during the interview. Really good hair piece and makeup there, I couldn't tell.

He also talked about the excruciating pain he suffered during some of the shows, but never missed a taping.

The pessimist in me feels like this is his goodbye interview and it took everything he had to properly finish the season, which production-wise is on break now.

It's a great interview, and he's a class act.

dan c

 

From the CBC Archives: Alex Trebek hosted so many CBC shows before Jeopardy!

 

This just in. This is great news. Alex Trebek shares ‘mind-boggling’ pancreatic cancer update

 

Luckily I’m like Camus’ “The Stranger”- I don’t shed a tear when 99% of people die. That’s life, IMO

 

Best news I've heard all day. Hope to see him back next season!

 

It's good to hear something positive like this considering his grim diagnosis. My thoughts and prayers are still with you Alex. Beat the odds!

 

At this moment Bushwick Bill is dying from the same cancer. I found this article. Pretty puts the stick in the mud. Bad news, so they say.

Alex Trebek’s ‘near remission’ story serves as a reminder: Beware celebrity health news

 

I remember some similar reporting about Steve Jobs, how he was making miraculous progress against his pancreatic cancer. He was still dead within the year. Rich people can afford expensive therapies that ordinary folk like my dad couldn't, but they can not "win the battle" against terminal disease, just prolong it a bit. A grim reality, but reality is often grim.