The Patriot Post® · Gratitude and Perspective With Ben Sasse

A terminal cancer diagnosis changes everything.

Last year, former Republican Senator Ben Sasse was diagnosed with stage-four pancreatic cancer, a reminder that no amount of power, wealth, or influence protects us from the inevitable.

CBS News reports, “In December, Sasse was told he had three to four months to live. His pancreatic cancer had metastasized. He is now battling five cancers, including lung, vascular, and liver cancer.”

Sasse’s response to the diagnosis provides insight into his experience and the powerful way cancer changes the way we think about life.

“The lie I want to tell myself is that I’m the center of everything,” Sasse explained in his “60 Minutes” interview on Sunday. “And I’m going to be around forever. And I can work harder and store up enough that I can atone for my own brokenness. I can’t.” He added, “And so, I hate cancer. But I’m also grateful for it. I tell a lot more truth to myself than I used to do it when I thought I was super omnicompetent and interesting.”

It’s an inspiring and sobering reflection. Pancreatic cancer is one of the toughest to fight and comes with a short life expectancy.

NBC News details, “Less than 13% of people diagnosed with pancreatic cancer live for more than five years, making it one of the deadliest cancers. There is no routine screening for pancreatic cancer, such as colonoscopy or mammogram, and symptoms typically don’t show up until the disease is advanced. Once detected, there are few options for treatment. Only about 20% of cases are operable, which is currently required for someone to be eligible to join a pancreatic cancer vaccine trial.”

Sasse’s courage in the face of these odds gives others hope to make the most of the time they have left. Yet there’s also hope on the medical front.

Researchers “have recently reported some good news about advanced treatments that significantly increase the life expectancy of patients and, in some cases, even appear to cure the illness,” Ronald Bailey writes at Reason. “In fact, Sasse is enrolled in a clinical trial for one of the medications. He is taking the anti-cancer drug daraxonrasib, developed by Revolution Medicines. The drug aims at a previously hard-to-target RAS mutation that drives tumor growth and survival in around 90 percent of pancreatic cancer cases. The company reported earlier this month that patients taking their new anti-cancer drug basically doubled their overall survival time from 6.7 to 13.2 months. The company now plans to seek Food and Drug Administration approval for the treatment.”

Sasse served his Nebraska constituents well over the years, fighting for conservative and Republican policies. But he also voted to convict Donald Trump after his second impeachment and broke with others in his party from time to time, facing criticism that he was a moderate, establishment Republican. But all in all, Sasse revered our Constitution and the core principles of republican government.

Now, he views politics from a place that might bring together not just Republicans but all Americans.

“I love America,” Sasse says. However, “Neither of these parties really have very big or good ideas about 2030 or 2050, at a national security level, at a future of work level, at an institution-building level. The Congress is not wrestling with big or important questions right now.”

As for the current state of politics across the country, he expounds, “I think your fundamental political community is your neighborhood, and your city hall, and maybe even your state legislature. And right now — we are sacrificing a lot of our national politics to weird folks who want their main community to be their political tribe at a federal level, and that should be like the ninth thing, or the 15th thing you care about, not the first or second thing.”

Sasse’s words should give pause to the political infighting and should encourage our political leaders and citizens alike to focus on what’s important. As our own Emmy Griffin opined in February, “Ultimately, his message is to invest in what truly matters. Let God use you to love your family, your neighbors, and your friends well. Don’t make politics your entire identity, and certainly don’t waste life on unfettered ambition.”

Ben Sasse’s diagnosis was an unexpected and shocking realization of what’s important. Our current political leaders need an awakening, too, if we’re to preserve the foundations that have served this country so well for 250 years. It would behoove Republicans and Democrats to reflect on Ben’s message and appreciate the incredible opportunity they have to do what’s best for all Americans.