Ben Sasse says has terminal pancreatic cancer

WASHINGTON: Former Republican Sen. Ben Sasse announced Tuesday that he has been diagnosed with metastatic, stage 4 pancreatic cancer, calling the disease terminal but vowing to face it head-on.

“Advanced pancreatic is nasty stuff; it’s a death sentence,” Sasse, 53, wrote on X. “But I already had a death sentence before last week too — we all do.”

Sasse said he is drawing strength from close family and lifelong friends as he confronts the diagnosis. Quoting one friend, he wrote, “Sure, you’re on the clock, but we’re all on the clock,” adding that death is “a wicked thief” that ultimately pursues everyone.

Sasse represented Nebraska in the U.S. Senate from 2015 to 2023 before resigning to become the 13th president of the University of Florida. He stepped down from that role last year to focus on his family after his wife was diagnosed with epilepsy.

A staunch conservative who often described himself as a “constitutional warrior,” Sasse was one of seven Republican senators who voted to convict Donald Trump during the former president’s second impeachment trial related to the January 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol. Trump was acquitted and repeatedly criticized Sasse, once calling him a “grandstanding, little-respected senator” at a 2022 rally. Only three of those Republicans — Susan Collins of Maine, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, and Bill Cassidy of Louisiana — remain in the Senate.

Despite the gravity of his diagnosis, Sasse emphasized resolve and hope. “I’m not going down without a fight,” he wrote, pointing to recent advances in immunotherapy and other treatments, NBC News noted. He added that while death may be inevitable, “death and dying aren’t the same — the process of dying is still something to be lived,” according to CNN.

Sasse said his family is meeting the moment with determination and dark humor. “We’re zealously embracing a lot of gallows humor in our house,” he wrote, “and I’ve pledged to do my part to run through the irreverent tape.”