Ben Sasse announces stage 4 pancreatic cancer diagnosis

Ben Sasse, a former Republican senator, declared on Tuesday that he has been diagnosed with “metastasized, stage 4 pancreatic cancer and is going to die.”

“Advanced pancreatic is nasty stuff; it’s a death sentence. But I already had a death sentence before last week too—we all do,” Sen. Ben Sasse said in an X (formerly Twitter) post.

“I’m blessed with amazing siblings and half-a-dozen buddies that are genuinely brothers. As one of them put it, ‘Sure, you’re on the clock, but we’re all on the clock.’ Death is a wicked thief, and the bastard pursues us all,” the former senator continued.

From 2015 to 2023, Sasse served as Nebraska’s representative in the US Senate before stepping down to become the 13th president of the University of Florida. After learning that his wife had epilepsy, he resigned as president of the institution last year to devote more time to his family.

Sasse was one of seven Republicans in the Senate who voted to convict President Donald Trump in his second impeachment trial in relation to the January 6, 2021, riot at the US Capitol.

The president became enraged by his repeated criticism of Trump; at a rally in 2022, Trump referred to the Republican from Nebraska as a “grandstanding, little-respected senator.”

“I’ll have more to say. I’m not going down without a fight,” Sasse added.

“One sub-part of God’s grace is found in the jaw-dropping advances science has made the past few years in immunotherapy and more. Death and dying aren’t the same—the process of dying is still something to be lived. We’re zealously embracing a lot of gallows humor in our house, and I’ve pledged to do my part to run through the irreverent tape,” the republican continued.