- What Happened: Former Republican Sen. Ben Sasse, 54, sat down with New York Times columnist Ross Douthat for an emotional podcast interview, opening up about his Stage 4 pancreatic cancer diagnosis, his experimental treatment, and the deep Christian faith carrying him through his final months.
- Why It Matters: Sasse has five forms of cancer and his face was visibly covered in dried blood during the interview from a brutal experimental drug. Yet he spoke with calm, humor, and profound faith, saying he has found peace in knowing there will be "no more tears, no more cancer" on the other side.
- Bottom Line: A man with every reason to despair is choosing to testify. Ben Sasse is showing America what it looks like to face death with grace, faith, and a father's heart.
Ben Sasse is 54 years old, has five forms of cancer spreading through his body, and his face was covered in dried blood when he sat down to talk about it.
He was not looking for sympathy. He was looking to testify.
The former Republican senator from Nebraska sat down with New York Times columnist Ross Douthat for a wide-ranging interview on the "Interesting Times" podcast, released Thursday. What followed was one of the most quietly powerful conversations about faith, mortality, and what it means to be human to emerge from American public life in years.
"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," Sasse said. The doctors told him he has five forms of cancer spreading through his body. Lymphoma. Vascular. Lung cancer. Liver cancer. And pancreatic cancer, where it all began. "It was pretty clear that we're dealing with a short number of months left to live."
To fight it, Sasse enrolled in a clinical trial at MD Anderson using an experimental drug called daraxonrasib. The drug has shrunk his tumor volume by 76% since December. It has also made his skin bleed from places "that shouldn't be bleeding," as he put it. His face during the interview was visibly covered in dried blood. He described the sensation as "nuclear" and joked that he was "keeping the pharmacy industry employed right now." His pain has dropped 80% from its peak. The cancer, he said, is like dandelions that have already seeded the neighboring yard. You can mow what you see. You cannot undo what has already spread.
None of that is what Sasse wanted to talk about most.
"I've continued to feel a peace about the fact that death is something that we should hate," he said. "We should call it a wicked thief. And yet, it's pretty good that you pass through the vale of tears one time and then there will be no more tears, there will be no more cancer."
He spoke about faith with the precision of a man who has thought very carefully about what he believes and why he believes it. He talked about daily repentance not as a religious formality but as a lived reality. "In Christianity, the need for daily repentance is just a truth. I am broken. I leave undone those things which I ought to have done." He talked about the resurrection not as a comfort but as a conviction. "I believe in the resurrection, and I believe in a restoration of this world."
He also talked about his children. His daughters are 22 and 24. His son is 14. "I didn't like the idea of my 14-year-old son not having a dad around at 16. I didn't like the idea of my daughters not having their dad there to walk them down the aisle. I felt a real heaviness about that." He paused. Then he said what he believes anyway.
Sasse drew comfort from the late pastor Tim Keller, who also battled pancreatic cancer and once said he would never want to return to his pre-cancer prayer life. Sasse said his illness has shattered idols he did not know he was worshipping, things tied to career and achievement and self-reliance that looked small and pointless from where he now stands. "Cancer sucks," he said. "But I'm pretty grateful that cancer is a stake against my delusional self-idolatry."
He has his own podcast now. He named it "Not Dead Yet," a nod to Monty Python.