Former Sen. Ben Sasse, 53, Reveals He’s ‘Gonna Die’ After Sudden Stage 4 Cancer Diagnosis in Emotional Holiday Letter

Former Nebraska Sen. Ben Sasse has disclosed that he was recently diagnosed with terminal stage 4 pancreatic cancer.

In a holiday letter posted on X on Tuesday, Dec. 23, the 53-year-old Republican shared the news and his outlook in blunt terms.

“Last week I was diagnosed with metastasized, stage-four pancreatic cancer, and am gonna die,” he 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.”

Sasse reflected on the support around him, writing that he’s “blessed with amazing siblings and half-a-dozen buddies that are genuinely brothers.” He added, quoting a friend: “Sure, you’re on the clock, but we’re all on the clock.” He continued: “Death is a wicked thief, and the bastard pursues us all.”

Sasse served as Nebraska’s junior U.S. senator from 2015 to 2023. In 2021, he was one of seven Republican senators who voted to convict President Donald Trump during Trump’s second impeachment trial.

After leaving the Senate, Sasse became president of the University of Florida. He stepped down last year, saying he wanted to focus on family after his wife was diagnosed with epilepsy.

In his letter, Sasse acknowledged that he has “less time than I’d prefer,” and described the weight of processing the news as a husband and father. He said there’s never an easy moment to share something like this, but that the season felt meaningful.

“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,” he wrote. “As a Christian, the weeks running up to Christmas are a time to orient our hearts toward the hope of what’s to come.”

He also drew a distinction between hope and optimism, writing that optimism is valuable but not enough for the hardest conversations.

“To be clear, optimism is great, and it’s absolutely necessary, but it’s insufficient,” he wrote. “It’s not the kinda thing that holds up when you tell your daughters you’re not going to walk them down the aisle. Nor telling your mom and pops they’re gonna bury their son.”

“A well-lived life demands more reality — stiffer stuff,” he added. “That’s why, during advent, even while still walking in darkness, we shout our hope — often properly with a gravelly voice soldiering through tears.”

Sasse ended by telling readers he’ll share more later, but emphasized he’s “not going down without a fight.”

“One sub-part of God’s grace is found in the jaw dropping advances science has made the past few years in immunotherapy and more,” he wrote. “Death and dying aren’t the same — the process of dying is still something to be lived. We’re zealously embracing a lot of gallows humor in our house, and I’ve pledged to do my part to run through the irreverent tape.”

He concluded with a Christmas message and a passage from Isaiah 9: “The people walking in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of deep darkness a light has dawned….For to us a son is given.”

Pancreatic cancer is the third leading cause of cancer-related deaths in the U.S., according to the National Cancer Institute. It is rarely curable and has a five-year survival rate of less than 13%.

Because early symptoms can be limited and there is no routine screening test, the disease is often detected at a later stage—one reason it remains among the deadliest cancers.