Ben Sasse opens up about cancer battle, says death is ‘a wicked thief’
by The Washington Times AI News Desk · The Washington TimesFormer Republican Sen. Ben Sasse spoke candidly Thursday about his terminal cancer diagnosis, telling a New York Times podcast that his tumors have shrunk dramatically even as he prepares for death.
Mr. Sasse, who received a three-to-four-month life expectancy in mid-December, said he is now roughly 99 days past that prognosis and faring considerably better than he was at Christmas.
“In mid-December I got a three- to four-month life expectancy, and I’m at Day 99 or something since then, and I’m doing a heck of a lot better than I was doing at Christmas,” he said.
Doctors told him he has five forms of cancer — lymphoma, vascular, lung cancer, liver cancer and pancreatic cancer, where the disease originated. “It was pretty clear that we’re dealing with a short number of months left to live,” Mr. Sasse said.
The conversation aired as part of Ross Douthat’s “Interesting Times” podcast, recorded in Austin, Texas, where Mr. Sasse has been based while receiving treatment at MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston.
Mr. Sasse is enrolled in a clinical trial at MD Anderson involving a drug called daraxonrasib, developed by Silicon Valley company Revolution Medicines. He takes the drug orally, but said it causes his skin to bleed — his face was visibly covered in dried blood during the recorded interview. He described the sensation as “nuclear.”
Despite the visible toll of treatment, Mr. Sasse said the drug has produced striking results. His tumor volume is down 76% from late December. He acknowledged, however, that the cancer has already spread too widely to be overcome. He compared the situation to a yard full of dandelions that have already seeded neighboring yards — even clearing the visible growth cannot undo what has already spread.
Mr. Sasse said his pain is now 80% reduced from when he was first diagnosed, though he continues to manage nausea as a side effect of treatment. He rated his pain at a four out of 10 during the interview, down from as high as eight.
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Mr. Sasse praised the team at MD Anderson, including oncologists Drs. Shubham Pant and Bob Wolff. He said the doctors describe their work as chipping away at a giant dam with a pickax — making small cracks, with hope that someday those cracks will converge and bring the dam down. “Maybe 10 years,” he added.
A father of three, Mr. Sasse said he felt a deep heaviness at the thought of not being present for his children.
“I didn’t like the idea of my 14-year-old son not having a dad around at 16,” he said. “I didn’t like the idea of my daughters, who are 22 and 24, not having their dad there to walk them down the aisle. I felt a real heaviness about that.”
Still, he said he has found a measure of peace rooted in his Christian faith.
“I’ve continued to feel a peace about the fact that death is something that we should hate,” Mr. Sasse said. “We should call it a wicked thief. And yet, it’s pretty good that you pass through the veil of tears one time and then there will be no more tears, there will be no more cancer.”
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He also launched his own podcast, titled “Not Dead Yet,” a reference to “Monty Python and the Holy Grail,” in which he has been speaking publicly about his experience.
Mr. Sasse served Nebraska in the Senate for eight years before resigning to lead the University of Florida. He stepped down from that role in July 2024, citing his wife Melissa’s epilepsy diagnosis.
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