"Jeopardy!" host Alex Trebek has returned to chemotherapy to treat his stage 4 pancreatic cancer, but he says he will continue being television's longest-serving game-show host "as long as my skills do not diminish."
Chemotherapy, Trebek told CTV News in Canada on Friday, has caused sores in his mouth and has slowed his ability to enunciate words.
"I'm sure there are observant members of the television audience that notice also, but they're forgiving," he told the network. "But there will come a point when [fans and producers] will no longer be able to say, 'It's O.K.'"
Trebek, 79, announced his cancer diagnosis in March, returning to the show he has hosted for 36 years in May when his cancer was in remission.
But last month, he learned another round of chemotherapy was necessary.
"I'm not afraid of dying," he told CTV. "I've lived a good life, a full life — and I'm nearing the end of that life. If it happens, why should I be afraid that?
"One thing they're not going to say at my funeral, as a part of a eulogy, is, 'He was taken from us too soon,'" Trebek quipped.
Trebek was in Canada to attend the announcement that the University of Ottawa, his alma mater, had received a $2.1 million donation for the Alex Trebek Forum for Dialogue.
The effort seeks to "enrich and broaden public debate," CTV reports. Trebek's donation brings his support for the institution to $9.5 million. He is a native of Sudbury in northern Ontario.
"Democracy is at risk in many other countries of the world," Trebek said. "Nationalism has come to the forefront.
"Democracy always seems to triumph," he added. "It doesn't matter whether we have periods where we have dictators, oligarchs, whatever."
Overall, regarding his health, Trebek told CTV: "I'm hanging in.
"We're back on the chemo — and we'll see if the numbers go down. And if they do, they can't keep doing it forever, of course.
"They'll have to find a new protocol or whatever to administer," Trebek said. "We'll play it by ear and keep chugging along until we either win or lose."
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