“Jeopardy” host Alex Trebek says that his doctors have decided he needs to do another round of chemotherapy, following a large amount of weight loss and his numbers increasing after his first round of treatment for Stage 4 pancreatic cancer.
“I was doing so well,” Trebek told ABC News’ T.J. Holmes during an interview on “Good Morning America” Tuesday. “And my numbers went down to the equivalent of a normal human being who does not have pancreatic cancer. So we were all very optimistic. And they said, ‘Good, we’re gonna stop chemo, we’ll start you on immunotherapy.’ I lost about 12 pounds in a week. And my numbers went sky high, much higher than they were when I was first diagnosed. So, the doctors have decided that I have to undergo chemo again and that’s what I’m doing.”
Trebek was diagnosed with stage 4 pancreatic cancer, which has a 9% survival rate. “Normally, the prognosis for this is not very encouraging but I’m going to fight this,” the host said when he announced his diagnosis back in March. “I’m going to keep working and 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.”
In May, the “Jeopardy” host said his cancer was “near remission” and in August he returned to work to film Season 36 of the game show.
Trebek told Holmes that sometimes he’s in “excruciating pain” and other times feels “fatigue.” “Cancer is mysterious in more ways than one,” he said. He also talked more about his battle with depression following his diagnosis.
“When it happened early on I was down on myself,” Trebek said. “I didn’t realize how fallible each of us is in his or her own way … I talk to the audience sometimes and I get teary eyed for no reason. I don’t even bother to explain it anymore, I just experience it. I know it’s a part of who I am and I just keep going.”
Watch the full interview above.