"I'll take 'My Heart is Broken' for $2,000, Alex."
Except that I can't ask Alex. I can't, because Alex is gone. It seemed so quick. Wasn't I just watching season 37 of Jeopardy with Alex still hosting the show? That's because he didn't want to stop. He didn't walk away. He was still taping shows until about 10 days before he passed away on Sunday.
Jeopardy, a game show whose most recent incarnation has been on the air for 36 years, has become an institution here in the United States. For all this time, its host was Alex Trebek. We saw him age from a young, fast speaking man, to a sage 80 year old with grey hair and great wit.
For example, in a July interview, he said he'd want his successor to be Betty White.
We bonded with the contestants, especially this one.
When Alex's pancreatic cancer diagnosis was announced in March of 2019, and several months later into 2019, I blogged these words:
Jeopardy has become an institution. When I heard the news, I went right to Facebook - as it happens, I went to high school and college with a future Jeopardy champion, and she had already posted. (On the day Alex died, she posted the picture taken with him when she won.)
Pancreatic cancer is personal for me It killed an aunt, an uncle and a great aunt (both sides of my family have been touched). Someone I walked with at lunch for years lost her brother in law to it. A former boss lost her sister to it. And on and on.
In the past several months, pancreatic cancer has taken the mother of someone I know, and someone I knew of as a great advocate for eldercare issues in our community. I got to meet her less than a year before her death.
Alex Trebek gives much of the credit for his cancer shrinking to the millions of people who have been praying and thinking of him. But prayer is not enough. We must help ourselves.
Pancreatic cancer, and other "rare" cancers needs to be "brought up to speed". This cancer needs to have some type of early detection, the way breast cancer and cervical cancer have. It needs publicity. It needs marathons. All cancers need funding. It is true that pancreatic cancer is only about 3% of cancer diagnoses in our country. But isn't it strange that, for its 3% rate, so many of us seem to know someone who has had it.
Yes, having had three relatives die from this cancer (my late aunt was the youngest), makes it personal. While the survival rates for some cancers have (thankfully) increased, the rates for pancreatic cancer have not.
I do wish recovery for all patients with this dread cancer, whether or not they have extensive support systems.
I was cautiously optimistic about Alex Trebek, but was also realistic. It was the speed that took us by surprise. Quoting again from previous blog posts with an updated last paragraph:
The sad but true fact is that it is the loss of celebrities (or the famous) that call people to action. Although, as this article points out, there aren't too many "famous" spokepeople for this illness-they don't survive long enough.
If a cause isn't (excuse the expression) "sexy", it doesn't get the money.
Pancreatic cancer certainly doesn't get money for research the way some other cancers do. Not to take away the importance of any cancer, but I believe funding must become more even between types of cancer.
That would be such a wonderful way to honor our beloved Alex Trebek. My thoughts are with his family, as are the thoughts of millions of Americans.
For World Pancreatic Cancer Day, November 21, 2019, Alex made this PSA.
Today, I also honor my mother, who passed 55 years ago today.
I have to believe that when Alex passed through the Pearly Gates, the Jeopardy theme played, and he was met by Larry Martin (Jeopardy champion who died from pancreatic cancer), Art Fleming (first Jeopardy host, who also died from pancreatic cancer) and Cindy Stowell (Jeopardy champion who was terminally ill from colon cancer at the time she became a six game champion and died before her shows could be broadcast.)
May Alex, my Mom, and also all those who have passed away since the beginning of 2020 forever rest in peace.
Very nice post. Even as my mother-in-law was sitting with her body failing at 95, she was busy answering the questions on Jeopardy. I will always remember her in front of the TV enjoying that show. He brought joy to many.
ReplyDeleteLovely post. One of the bloggers I follow is fighting pancreatic cancer. It's a tough one. My sister-in-law (brother's wife) is one of the survivors, so it's possible. Been more than 15 years now too.
ReplyDeleteIt sounds like your mom died much too young.
My birth mother died of it, too.
ReplyDeleteMy heart is also broken. He was a true institution and willbe missed.
ReplyDeleteCarol Cassara
Alex lasted longer than I thought he would with that diagnosis. What an elegant, lovely man. He'll be missed.
ReplyDeleteLet me see if it lets my comment go through this time. . .
ReplyDeleteWe can still enjoy his last episodes for the next seven weeks, at least.
It feels like losing a friend. A friend who showed up in my living room every night.
ReplyDeletePancreatic cancer is sneaky. It gets diagnosed when there is already nothing to be done. Bill Bixby, Patrick Swayze, Michael Landon all died from this. My father in law died also, one month after he was diagnosed.
ReplyDeleteHe was such a great person as well as TV celebrity. He will be missed.
Now, I know when I will write about my impressions and memories of Alex. Thanks for the share.
ReplyDelete