Two days before Christmas, former U.S. Sen. Ben Sasse (R-Neb.) shared that he’s “gonna die” from metastasized, stage-four pancreatic cancer. “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,” wrote Sasse, a 53-year-old husband and father of three. “As a Christian, the weeks running up to Christmas are a time to orient our hearts toward the hope of what’s to come.”
That hope isn’t in “vague hallmark-sappy spirituality,” personal strength, or optimism, Sasse said. “We hope in a real Deliverer—a rescuing God, born at a real time, in a real place. But the eternal city—with foundations and without cancer—is not yet.”
In an X post that had received almost 7 million views by midday Tuesday (Dec. 23), Sasse wrote, “Remembering Isaiah’s prophecies of what’s to come doesn’t dull the pain of current sufferings. But it does put it in eternity’s perspective: ‘When we’ve been there 10,000 years…We’ve no less days to sing God’s praise.’”
Pancreatic cancer represents just 3% of all new cancer cases in America, but it’s a top cause of cancer-related deaths. Early detection is difficult, so most patients have late-stage disease by the time they’re diagnosed.
Former Sen. Ben Sasse Reflects on ‘Death Sentence’
While sharing news of his terminal cancer diagnosis, former Sen. Ben Sasse noted that everyone has a “death sentence” and “we’re all on the clock.” He wrote, “Death is a wicked thief,” leaving him “less time than I’d prefer.”
Sasse shared, “This is hard for someone wired to work and build, but harder still as a husband and a dad.” After praising his three children for their recent accomplishments, he wrote, “I couldn’t be more grateful to constantly get to bear-hug this motley crew of sinners and saints.”
Worldly optimism doesn’t hold up “when you tell your daughters you’re not going to walk them down the aisle” or tell “your mom and pops they’re gonna bury their son,” Sasse wrote. Instead, we need “stiffer stuff.” He continued:
That’s why, during advent, even while still walking in darkness, we shout our hope—often properly with a gravelly voice soldiering through tears. Such is the calling of the pilgrim. Those who know ourselves to need a Physician should dang well look forward to enduring beauty and eventual fulfillment.
Although Sasse isn’t “going down without a fight,” he wrote about grace, peace, and even gallows humor. “For now, as our family faces the reality of treatments, but more importantly as we celebrate Christmas, we wish you peace,” he concluded.
Sasse also quoted verses 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.”
.jpg){kind=link}
