Former Sen. Ben Sasse put up a candid social media post on Tuesday, announcing that he was diagnosed last week with metastatic Stage 4 pancreatic cancer, calling it "a death sentence" and adding bluntly, "I'm gonna die." The Nebraska Republican, 53, wrote that while the diagnosis is grave, he sees it as a heightened version of a reality everyone faces, per the Hill, noting, "We're all on the clock." He said he's "not going down without a fight," though, and plans to share more in the future.
Sasse, who left the Senate in 2023 to become president of the University of Florida, stepped down from that job after a little over a year, citing health concerns involving his wife, Melissa, including epilepsy and memory problems. In his post, he said recent months had brought him closer to his family and described what his children have been doing, framing the news within his Christian faith and the advent season as a time to focus on "the hope of what's to come."
The former senator and dad of three, who the AP notes was a vocal critic of President Trump, also pointed to advances in treatments such as immunotherapy as a form of "grace." He added that his household is leaning heavily on dark humor as they move forward. "Death and dying aren't the same—the process of dying is still something to be lived," he wrote, adding that he has pledged "to run through the irreverent tape." Sasse joins a short list of prominent senators who've faced pancreatic cancer, including former Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, who died of the disease in 2021.
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