Former U.S. Sen. Ben Sasse of Nebraska announced on Tuesday that he has been diagnosed with metastatic stage-four pancreatic cancer, candidly calling it ‘a death sentence.’<\/p>\n
‘This is a tough note to write, but since a bunch of you have started to suspect something, I\u2019ll cut to the chase: Last week I was diagnosed with metastasized, stage-four pancreatic cancer, and am gonna die,’ Sasse wrote in a post on X.<\/p>\n
‘Advanced pancreatic is nasty stuff; it\u2019s a death sentence. But I already had a death sentence before last week too \u2014 we all do,’ he continued.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Sasse, who is just 53 years old, noted, ‘I\u2019ve got less time than I\u2019d prefer.’ <\/p>\n
But he also expressed his eternal hope, noting that he is a Christian.<\/p>\n
‘As a Christian, the weeks running up to Christmas are a time to orient our hearts toward the hope of what\u2019s to come,’ he wrote. <\/p>\n
‘Not 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 To 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,’ he noted.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
‘Those who know ourselves to need a Physician should dang well look forward to enduring beauty and eventual fulfillment. That is, we hope in a real Deliverer \u2014 a rescuing God, born at a real time, in a real place. But the eternal city \u2014 with foundations and without cancer \u2014 is not yet,’ he wrote.<\/p>\n
Sasse served in the Senate from early 2015 through early 2023, then went on to serve as president of the University of Florida.<\/p>\n
Last year he stepped down from the helm of the university, pointing to his wife’s epilepsy diagnosis.<\/p>\n
‘My wife Melissa\u2019s recent epilepsy diagnosis and a new batch of memory issues have been hard, but we\u2019re facing it together,’ he noted in explaining his move last year. ‘Our two wonderful daughters are in college, but our youngest is just turning 13. Gator Nation needs a president who can keep charging hard, Melissa deserves a husband who can pull his weight, and my kids need a dad who can be home many more nights. I need to step back and rebuild more stable household systems for a time.’<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Vice President JD Vance was among those who responded to Sasse’s grim cancer announcement on Tuesday.<\/p>\n
‘I’m very sorry to hear this Ben. May God bless you and your family,’ Vance wrote.<\/p>\n
Sasse noted in his message, ‘I\u2019ll have more to say. I\u2019m not going down without a fight. One sub-part of God\u2019s grace is found in the jawdropping advances science has made the past few years in immunotherapy and more. Death 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.<\/p>\n
‘But 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),’ he wrote.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
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