{"id":36427,"date":"2025-12-24T00:33:59","date_gmt":"2025-12-24T00:33:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news-vm.com\/?p=36427"},"modified":"2025-12-24T00:33:59","modified_gmt":"2025-12-24T00:33:59","slug":"former-sen-ben-sasse-53-reveals-hes-gonna-die-after-sudden-stage-4-cancer-diagnosis-in-emotional-holiday-letter","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news-vm.com\/?p=36427","title":{"rendered":"Former Sen. Ben Sasse, 53, Reveals He’s ‘Gonna Die’ After Sudden Stage 4 Cancer Diagnosis in Emotional Holiday Letter"},"content":{"rendered":"

Former Nebraska Sen.\u00a0Ben Sasse<\/a>\u00a0revealed he was just diagnosed with terminal stage 4 pancreatic cancer.<\/p>\n

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On Tuesday, Dec. 23, the 53-year-old Republican penned an emotional holiday letter on\u00a0X<\/a>\u00a0sharing his grim prognosis following the diagnosis.<\/p>\n

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\u201cLast week I was diagnosed with metastasized, stage-four pancreatic cancer, and am gonna die,\u201d he wrote. \u201cAdvanced pancreatic is nasty stuff; it\u2019s a death sentence. But I already had a death sentence before last week too \u2014 we all do.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\u201cI\u2019m blessed with amazing siblings and half-a-dozen buddies that are genuinely brothers. As one of them put it, \u2018Sure, you\u2019re on the clock, but we\u2019re all on the clock.\u2019 Death is a wicked thief, and the bastard pursues us all.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Sasse served as the junior United States senator for Nebraska from 2015 to 2023. He was\u00a0one of seven Republican senators who voted to convict<\/a>\u00a0President\u00a0Donald Trump<\/a>\u00a0during his second impeachment trial in 2021.<\/p>\n

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After resigning, Sasse went on to serve as the University of Florida president. He left the position last year to focus on family after his wife was diagnosed with epilepsy.<\/p>\n

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\"Sen.<\/div>\n
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While sharing his own health update, Sasse admitted that he\u2019s got \u201cless time than I\u2019d prefer\u201d and it\u2019s hard to cope with as a husband and father. He then went on to praise his family and how great they\u2019ve been.<\/p>\n

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\u201cThere\u2019s not a good time to tell your peeps you\u2019re now marching to the beat of a faster drummer \u2014 but the season of advent isn\u2019t the worst,\u201d he said. \u201cAs a Christian, the weeks running up to Christmas are a time to orient our hearts toward the hope of what\u2019s to come.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\u201cNot an abstract hope in fanciful human goodness; not hope in vague hallmark-sappy spirituality; not a bootstrapped hope in our own strength (what foolishness is the evaporating-muscle I once prided myself in). Nope \u2014 often we lazily say \u2018hope\u2019 when what we mean is \u2018optimism,\u2019 \u201d he continued. \u201cTo be clear, optimism is great, and it\u2019s absolutely necessary, but it\u2019s insufficient. It\u2019s not the kinda thing that holds up when you tell your daughters you\u2019re not going to walk them down the aisle. Nor telling your mom and pops they\u2019re gonna bury their son.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\u201cA well-lived life demands more reality \u2014 stiffer stuff,\u201d he added. \u201cThat\u2019s why, during advent, even while still walking in darkness, we shout our hope \u2014 often properly with a gravelly voice soldiering through tears.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\"Ben<\/div>\n<\/div>
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Sasse ended the letter by telling his followers that he\u2019ll have more to say later but he\u2019s \u201cnot going down without a fight.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\u201cOne sub-part of God\u2019s grace is found in the jaw dropping advances science has made the past few years in immunotherapy and more,\u201d he wrote. \u201cDeath and dying aren\u2019t the same \u2014 the process of dying is still something to be lived. We\u2019re zealously embracing a lot of gallows humor in our house, and I\u2019ve pledged to do my part to run through the irreverent tape.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\u201cBut for now, as our family faces the reality of treatments, but more importantly as we celebrate Christmas, we wish you peace: \u2018The people walking in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of deep darkness a light has dawned\u2026.For to us a son is given\u2019 (Isaiah 9),\u201d he said. \u201cWith great gratitude, and with gravelly-but-hopeful voices, Ben \u2014 and the Sasses.\u201d<\/p>\n

Pancreatic cancer ranks as the third leading cause of cancer-related deaths in the U.S., according to the\u00a0National Cancer Institute<\/a>. It is rarely curable and has a five-year survival rate of less than 13%.<\/p>\n

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Because there are so few symptoms in its early stages and there is no screening or test, the cancer is usually not detected until in more advanced stages, making it one of the most deadly cancers.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Former Nebraska Sen.\u00a0Ben Sasse\u00a0revealed he was just diagnosed with terminal stage 4 pancreatic cancer. On Tuesday, Dec. 23, the 53-year-old Republican penned an emotional holiday letter on\u00a0X\u00a0sharing his grim prognosis following the diagnosis. \u201cLast week I was diagnosed with metastasized, stage-four pancreatic cancer, and am gonna die,\u201d he wrote. \u201cAdvanced pancreatic is nasty stuff; it\u2019s…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":36428,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_kad_post_transparent":"default","_kad_post_title":"default","_kad_post_layout":"default","_kad_post_sidebar_id":"","_kad_post_content_style":"default","_kad_post_vertical_padding":"default","_kad_post_feature":"","_kad_post_feature_position":"","_kad_post_header":false,"_kad_post_footer":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[19,17,11,20,24,15,12,25,22,18,16,21,14,23,13],"class_list":["post-36427","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-chronic-diseases","tag-fitness","tag-health-tips","tag-healthcare-technology","tag-healthy-lifestyle","tag-healthy-living","tag-medical-advice","tag-medical-awareness","tag-medical-research","tag-mental-health","tag-nutrition","tag-patient-care","tag-preventive-care","tag-public-health","tag-wellness"],"yoast_head":"\nFormer Sen. Ben Sasse, 53, Reveals He's 'Gonna Die' After Sudden Stage 4 Cancer Diagnosis in Emotional Holiday Letter - VM News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/news-vm.com\/?p=36427\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Former Sen. Ben Sasse, 53, Reveals He's 'Gonna Die' After Sudden Stage 4 Cancer Diagnosis in Emotional Holiday Letter - VM News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Former Nebraska Sen.\u00a0Ben Sasse\u00a0revealed he was just diagnosed with terminal stage 4 pancreatic cancer. On Tuesday, Dec. 23, the 53-year-old Republican penned an emotional holiday letter on\u00a0X\u00a0sharing his grim prognosis following the diagnosis. \u201cLast week I was diagnosed with metastasized, stage-four pancreatic cancer, and am gonna die,\u201d he wrote. \u201cAdvanced pancreatic is nasty stuff; it\u2019s...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/news-vm.com\/?p=36427\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"VM News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-12-24T00:33:59+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/news-vm.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/603850383_1272120498114957_8713905616389171784_n.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1080\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1350\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"vmfavorite\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"vmfavorite\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news-vm.com\/?p=36427#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news-vm.com\/?p=36427\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"vmfavorite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news-vm.com\/#\/schema\/person\/a2e30a4c480fba08110aa92dceebedad\"},\"headline\":\"Former Sen. 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