Alex Trebek 'Mind-Bogglingly Near Remission' From Stage 4 Cancer

LOS ANGELES, CA — Just months after he went public with his stage 4 pancreatic cancer, "Jeopardy!" host Alex Trebek is on his way to a "mind-boggling" recovery, he announced Wednesday.

The longtime gameshow host said his tumors have shrunk dramatically in response to ongoing chemotherapy, and he appears "near remission," according to his doctors. Brought to tears by the news, Trebek , 78, can't help but credit the love and support of fans for bolstering him in his battle with cancer.

In an interview with People magazine, Trebek thanks his fans for their "good thoughts, their positive energy directed towards me and their prayers."

"I told the doctors, `This has to be more than just the chemo,' and they agreed it could very well be an important part of this," he said. "I've got a lot of love out there headed in my direction and a lot of prayer, and I will never ever minimize the value of that."

His near recovery event caught his doctors off guard, he said.

"It's kind of mind-boggling," Trebek told People magazine. "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."

Trebek added that it was "tears of joy" he cried when told how well he's responding to treatment for a cancer that has only 9 percent survival rate.

Trebek announced his cancer diagnosis in a YouTube video released March 6, saying he has a "longtime policy of being open and transparent" with fans of the show, and to prevent people "from reading or hearing some overblown or inaccurate reports regarding my health." He returned to work six days later on the Sony lot in Culver City where the show is taped.

"Just like 50,000 other people in the United States each year, this week I was diagnosed with stage 4 pancreatic cancer," Trebek said in his initial announcement. "Now normally the prognosis for this is not very encouraging, but I'm going to fight this and I'm going to keep working. And with the love and support of my family and friends, and with the help of your prayers also, I plan to beat the low survival rate statistics for this disease.

"Truth told, I have to, because under the terms of my contract, I have to host `Jeopardy@' for three more years," he joked. "So help me. Keep the faith and we'll win. We'll get it done."

A native of Canada and father of two, Trebek has hosted the syndicated answers-and-questions quiz show since 1984.

City News Service and Patch Staffer Paige Austin contributed to this report.