Former Sen. Ben Sasse announces terminal pancreatic cancer diagnosis

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Dec. 23 (UPI) -- Former Sen. Ben Sasse announced Tuesday he's been diagnosed with stage-four pancreatic cancer, what he described as "a death sentence."

The conservative who represented Florida for eight years in the Senate made the announcement in a post on X.

"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," Sasse wrote.

"Advanced pancreatic is nasty stuff; it's a death sentence. But I already had a death sentence before last week too -- we all do.

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"I'll have more to say. I'm not going down without a fight."

Sasse resigned from the U.S. Senate in early 2024 to accept a job as the president of the University of Florida. He was two years into his second term in the upper chamber.

At the time of his departure from the Senate, Sasse was one of the few vocal critics of President Donald Trump in the Republican Party. He was one of seven Republican senators who voted to convict the then-former president at his second impeachment trial in 2021.

In his farewell speech on the Senate floor in January 2023, Sasse scolded his fellow lawmakers for the increasing division and for being behold to special interest groups.

"When we're being honest with each other, which usually means when on one of the very rare occasions where cameras aren't present, we all know that a big chunk of the performative yelling that happens here and in every hearing room is just about being booked for even more performative yelling at night on TV," Sasse added.

He resigned less than two years into his stent at the University of Florida after his wife, Melissa Sasse, began having health issues. She had been diagnosed with epilepsy and was struggling with memory problems after having an aneurysm and a series of strokes in 2007.

The couple share three children -- Corrie, Alex and Breck.

"I couldn't be more grateful to constantly get to bear-hug this motley crew of sinners and saints," Sasse said of his family in his statement Tuesday.

"There's not a good time to tell your peeps you're now marching to the beat of a faster drummer -- but the season of advent isn't the worst. As a Christian, the weeks running up to Christmas are a time to orient our hearts toward the hope of what's to come."

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