Walt Disney Television/Paula Lobo(LOS ANGELES) — Alex Trebek says he’s making huge strides in his fight against pancreatic cancer. The 78-year-old Jeopardy! host tells People magazine that some of his tumors have already shrunk by more than 50 percent.
“It’s kind of mind boggling,” the game show host tells the magazine. “The doctors said that they hadn’t seen this kind of positive result in their memory. The doctors are so excited, just beside themselves with joy.”
Trebek says he and his wife Jean were moved to “tears of joy” by the news.
Trebek credits the chemotherapy treatment, combined with the well-wishes from fans and friends around the world, with helping him turn the corner on the disease, which has a mere nine percent survival rate because by the time pancreatic cancer can be detected, it’s generally too far progressed to eradicate.
“I’ve got a couple million people out there who have expressed their good thoughts, their positive energy directed towards me and their prayers,” Trebek says. “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.”
Earlier this month in an interview with ABC’s Robin Roberts, herself a cancer survivor, Trebek said, “People all over America have been sharing their good thoughts, their advice, their prayers. And I feel it is making a difference in my well-being.”
Trebek says he still has several rounds of chemo to go before his cancer can be declared to be in remission.
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