“Jeopardy!” host Alex Trebek plans to stop cancer treatment if his current round fails, according to an interview with the New York Times.
“Yesterday morning my wife came to me and said, ‘How are you feeling?’ And I said, ‘I feel like I want to die.’ It was that bad,” Trebek told the paper. “There comes a time where you have to make a decision as to whether you want to continue with such a low quality of life, or whether you want to just ease yourself into the next level. It doesn’t bother me in the least.”
Trebek has been battling Stage 4 pancreatic cancer, which has a 9% survival rate, since last year. The longtime “Jeopardy!” host returned to the soundstage to tape the show back in August, after his first round of treatment. In a video released earlier this week updating fans about his health, he said the follow-up treatments were “going well” despite the fact that “it does fatigue me a great deal.”
“Once again, I can’t wait to return to the studio and start recording shows for the new season in September,” Trebek said in the clip.
Trebek will turn 80 later this month and is set to release a memoir, “The Answer Is …: Reflections on My Life,” through Simon & Schuster.
The host reiterated to the New York Times that he hopes to keep doing the show for as long as he is able, but plans to step aside should his physical condition worsen.”It’s a quality program, and I think I do a good job hosting it, and when I start slipping, I’ll stop hosting,” he said.