A Blunt Message About A Brutal Disease
Former Nebraska Senator Ben Sasse doesn't do euphemisms, apparently. On Tuesday, the 53-year-old revealed that he's been diagnosed with metastasized, stage-four pancreatic cancer, and he told his supporters exactly what that means in the most direct way possible.
"This is a tough note to write, but since a bunch of you have started to suspect something, I'll cut to the chase," Sasse wrote on X. "Last week I was diagnosed with metastasized, stage-four pancreatic cancer, and am gonna die." He added that he's "now marching to the beat of a faster drummer" and stressed that "death and dying aren't the same — the process of dying is still something to be lived."
It's the kind of candor that's rare in politics, even from someone who made a career of saying uncomfortable things out loud.
The Republican Who Broke Ranks
Sasse entered the Senate in 2015 as a conservative from Nebraska, won reelection in 2020, and became one of the few Republicans willing to publicly criticize President Donald Trump. He didn't just talk about it either. Sasse voted to convict Trump at his second impeachment trial following the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol.
In 2023, he resigned from the Senate to become president of the University of Florida. That tenure didn't last long. He stepped down in 2024 after his wife, Melissa, was diagnosed with epilepsy.
Before his Senate career, Sasse accumulated an impressive academic resume with degrees from Harvard, St. John's College, and Yale. He served as an assistant secretary of Health and Human Services under President George W. Bush and led Midland University in Nebraska.
Support Flows In As The Odds Remain Grim
The response to Sasse's announcement was swift and bipartisan. Vice President JD Vance and Senator John Fetterman (D-Pa.) both praised his candor, while Nebraska officials asked residents to keep his family in their prayers.
The numbers behind pancreatic cancer are sobering. It remains one of the deadliest cancers out there, with the American Cancer Society projecting roughly 67,000 new U.S. cases and about 51,000 deaths in 2025. Survival rates for metastatic disease are extremely low.
Still, Sasse said he's pinning his hopes on "jawdropping advances" in immunotherapy and other treatments as he focuses on spending time with his wife and their three children.