Former U.S. Sen. Ben Sasse anounced Tuesday on social media that he has terminal pancreatic cancer.
“This is a tough note to write, but since a bunch of you have started to suspect something, I’ll cut to the chase: Last week I was diagnosed with metastasized, stage-four pancreatic cancer, and am gonna die,” the Republican posted on X.
“Advanced pancreatic is nasty stuff; it’s a death sentence. But I already had a death sentence before last week too – we all do.”
Sasse served in the Senate from 2015 to 2023, when he resigned to become president of the University of Florida.
“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,” Sasse wrote. “Still, I’ve got less time than I’d prefer. This is hard for someone wired to work and build, but harder still as a husband and a dad. I can’t begin to describe how great my people are.”
Sasse then discussed his family.
“During the past year, as we’d temporarily stepped back from public life and built new family rhythms, Melissa and I have grown even closer – and that on top of three decades of the best friend a man could ever have. Seven months ago, Corrie was commissioned into the Air Force and she’s off at instrument and multi-engine rounds of flight school. Last week, Alex kicked butt graduating from college a semester early even while teaching gen chem, organic, and physics (she’s a freak). This summer, 14-year-old Breck started learning to drive. (Okay, we’ve been driving off-book for six years – but now we’ve got paper to make it street-legal.) I couldn’t be more grateful to constantly get to bear-hug this motley crew of sinners and saints.”
Read the full post here.
