Ben Sasse, the former U.S. Senator and university president known for a career defined by intellectual independence, has delivered perhaps his most starkly honest address to date. In a deeply personal letter released Tuesday, December 23, 2025, Sasse revealed he has been diagnosed with terminal stage 4 pancreatic cancer. The 53-year-old Nebraskan shared the news on X (formerly Twitter) during the height of the holiday season, blending the gravity of a “death sentence” with the resilience and spiritual contemplation that characterized his time in the public eye. “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.”
A Career of Conviction and Transition
Sasse served as Nebraska’s junior Senator from 2015 to 2023, earning a reputation as a conservative traditionalist who frequently broke with his party’s populist wing. Most notably, he was one of seven Republicans who voted to convict President Donald Trump in his second impeachment trial in 2021—a move that cemented his status as a defiant voice of conscience, even at the cost of his standing with the party base.
In early 2023, Sasse transitioned to academia, assuming the presidency of the University of Florida. However, his tenure there was cut short last year when he stepped down to prioritize his family following his wife’s epilepsy diagnosis. That decision now appears as a poignant precursor to his own health battle.
The Silent Killer: Understanding the Diagnosis
Pancreatic cancer remains one of the most formidable challenges in modern oncology, primarily because it is a “silent” disease that rarely presents symptoms until it has reached an advanced stage.
For Sasse, the diagnosis of stage 4 means the cancer has metastasized, spreading beyond the pancreas to distant organs. According to the National Cancer Institute, the five-year survival rate for the disease lingers below 13%. At stage 4, the focus of medical intervention typically shifts from a cure to palliative care, symptom management, and life extension through emerging treatments.
Faith in the ‘Deep Darkness’
Sasse’s letter was less a political statement and more a meditation on mortality. Writing during the season of Advent, he drew a sharp distinction between “optimism”—which he deemed insufficient for telling daughters their father won’t walk them down the aisle—and “hope,” which he described as a “stiffer stuff.”
“A well-lived life demands more reality,” Sasse wrote. “That’s why, during advent, even while still walking in darkness, we shout our hope — often properly with a gravelly voice soldiering through tears.”
Despite the terminal prognosis, Sasse noted he is “zealously embracing” gallows humor and the support of a tight-knit circle of friends and family. He also acknowledged the “jaw-dropping advances” in immunotherapy, pledging to “run through the irreverent tape” of the time he has left.
Legacy of Transparency
By choosing total transparency, Sasse joins a growing number of public figures who use their personal tragedies to shine a light on underfunded or misunderstood diseases. Pancreatic cancer is currently the third leading cause of cancer-related deaths in the United States, yet it often lacks the public awareness afforded to other malignancies.
Sasse concluded his message with a scriptural reference from Isaiah, wishing peace to his constituents and the public as his family begins the “march to the beat of a faster drummer.”
“With great gratitude, and with gravelly-but-hopeful voices,” the letter closed, signed simply, “Ben — and the Sasses.”
