Alex Trebek Spent 79th Birthday Partying Amid His Cancer Diagnosis

On Monday, Jeopardy! television host Alex Trebek celebrated a special day with his family and friends. A number of photos were shared from Jeopardy!’s social media accounts.

Alex Trebek was born on July 22, 1940, and he celebrated his 79th birthday with family and friends. The Jeopardy! host had a party hosted for him in a ballroom.

The show’s official social media accounts showed Trebek in a room which was decorated with multicolored balloons and a number of tables. One of the images revealed that the television host was also accompanied by his family.

He was seen posing with his wife, Jean Currivan Trebek, 54, and their children daughter Emily, 26, and son Matthew, 29. The caption for the post read: “Today is Alex’s birthday! … Send him your wishes in the comments below!”

The television host celebrated his special day just after Jeopardy! finished its 35th season. Reaching almost 8 decades was a great milestone for Trebek as it’s also been nearly two months since he gave an update about his cancer diagnosis.

The star announced that some of his tumors had shrunk by more than half and that he was responding well to chemotherapy. In May, the host had this to say about his miraculous response to chemotherapy: “It’s kind of mind-boggling.”

Trebek explained at the time:

“The doctors said they hadn’t seen this kind of positive result in their memory … some of the tumors have already shrunk by more than 50 percent.”

The presenter credited his fans prayers, well wishes, and good thoughts for his incredible ongoing healing. He even shared that he shared his thoughts with doctors who agreed with him.

The star noted:

“I’ve got a lot of love out there headed in my direction and a lot of prayer, and I will never ever minimize the value of that.”

Trebek initially revealed in March that he had been diagnosed with stage 4 pancreatic cancer. He made the shocking announcement via a Twitter video.

Fans and supporters were quick to wish Trebek well on his birthday.

One other person who’s been credited for the host’s ongoing healing is his wife of 29 years. Currivan Trebek has been by her husband’s side as he’s dealt with the after-effects of chemotherapy.

Trebek praised her for being wonderful during the diagnosis and cried when she found out his tumors were shrinking.