Alex Trebek, the 78 year old host of Jeopardy, announced on Wednesday, March 6 via the Jeopardy YouTube channel that he has been diagnosed with stage 4 pancreatic cancer.  Trebek shared the news himself to be open with his fan-base.

“I also wanted to keep you from hearing some overblown or inaccurate reports regarding my health,” he said.

He has been hosting Jeopardy since 1984, setting a Guinness World Record in 2014 for most episodes of a game show hosted. He has won 5 Emmy awards for outstanding game show host over the course of his career.

Trebek talks about overcoming the disease saying, “I plan to beat the low survival-rates for this disease.” He even maintains his happy attitude despite the prognosis by making jokes, “Truth told, I have to! Because under the terms of my contract, I have to host Jeopardy for three more years!”

We will keep Trebek in our thoughts and prayers while he fights this disease and we hope he continues to host Jeopardy for many more years to come.