Former Republican Senator Ben Sasse announced Tuesday that he has been diagnosed with “metastasized pancreatic cancer, stage 4, and he will die.”
“Advanced pancreas is nasty stuff; it’s a death sentence. But I already had a death sentence before last week too – we all do,” Sasse, 53, wrote on X.
“I’m blessed with amazing brothers and half a dozen friends who are genuinely brothers. As one of them put it, “Sure, you’re on the clock, but we’re all on the clock.” Death is an evil thief, and the bastard follows us all.”
Sasse represented Nebraska in the United States Senate from 2015 to 2023 before resigning to serve as the 13th president of the University of Florida. He resigned as university president last year to focus on taking care of his family after his wife was diagnosed with epilepsy.
In the Senate, Sasse was one of seven Republicans who voted to convict President Donald Trump in his second impeachment trial in relation to the January 6, 2021 riot at the US Capitol.
His frequent criticism of Trump drew the president’s ire; Trump called the Nebraska Republican a “great and disrespected senator” at a 2022 rally.
“I have more to say. I will not go down without a fight,” Sasse wrote on Tuesday.
“One subset of God’s grace is found in the jaw-dropping advances science has made in the last few years in immunotherapy and more. Death and dying are not the same – the dying process is still something you have to live through. We eagerly embrace a lot of gallows humor in our house, and I have promised to do my part to run.”
Although pancreatic cancer accounts for about 3% of all new cancer cases in the United States, it is the third leading cause of cancer death and is projected to become the second leading cause of cancer death by the end of this decade.
Finding pancreatic cancer early can help increase the patient’s chances of survival, but currently there is no single blood test recommended to detect early pancreatic cancers.
“The vast majority of patients who present with pancreatic cancer have advanced disease at the time of their diagnosis. So 80% or more of patients present with advanced disease where we know at the time of their presentation, it is very unlikely that we will be able to cure the cancer,” Dr. Brian Wolpin, director of the Gastrointestinal Cancer Center at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, said CNN last year.
This story has been updated with additional information.
CNN’s Jacqueline Howard contributed to this story.
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