After months of speaking openly about the painful toll his stage 4 pancreatic cancer has taken on his mental and physical health, Alex Trebek is getting the optimistic news he so deserves. In a new interview with People, the Jeopardy! host announced that his cancer is in near remission, according to the doctors treating him. “It’s kind of mind-boggling,†Trebek explained. “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.†He noted that he still has several rounds of chemotherapy to go to hopefully reach full remission, with the support of the Jeopardy! fan community keeping him optimistic for a speedy recovery. “I told the doctors, this has to be more than just the chemo,†Trebek added, “and they agreed it could very well be an important part of this.â€
Since revealing his pancreatic cancer diagnosis earlier this year, Trebek has had a remarkable sense of humor when discussing his health. In one particularly harrowing interview, Trebek admitted he “cried in pain†while taping a few Jeopardy! episodes during the early stages of his diagnosis, but he refused to go home to rest. “This got really bad,†he said. “I was on the floor writhing in pain. It went from a 3 to an 11. And it happened three or four times that day while we were taping.†As of now, Trebek has every intention of returning to Jeopardy! when filming resumes in the fall.