“Jeopardy!” host Alex Trebek may leave the show due to ongoing cancer battle

The 79-year-old was diagnosed in early March with Stage 4 pancreatic cancer, a particularly deadly disease with a slim nine-percent survival rate. In May, he reported that he was doing very well saying “The doctors said they hadn’t seen this kind of positive result in their memory… Some of the tumors have already shrunk by more than 50 percent.”

Despite the initial success in treatment, Trebek recently stated that he has been urged by his doctors to undergo more treatment for his cancer after he saw a large amount of weight loss and his “numbers went sky high”. He also says that he now suffers from sores inside his mouth, a symptom of his chemotherapy which hurts his enunciation and he can now hear himself slurring words on Jeopardy!

Trebek has managed to stay positive and told Global News that “I will keep doing it (the show) as long as my skills do not diminish, and they have started to diminish,” he revealed about his future as the game show’s host.

Trebek went on to add that “I’m not afraid of dying,” and “I’m 79 years old. So, hey, I’ve lived a good life, a full life, and I’m nearing the end of that life. I know that.”