Former Sen. Ben Sasse gave a powerful testimony on his faith in Jesus Christ as he spoke about facing death after a Stage 4 pancreatic cancer diagnosis.
The former Nebraska lawmaker spoke about his terminal cancer diagnosis with Ross Douthat, at one point moving the New York Times columnist to tears. Sasse, who represented Nebraska for eight years, received a diagnosis he called “a death sentence” as he announced the news in December.
“Death is terrible. We should never sugarcoat it. It is not how things are meant to be,” Sasse told Douthat in the podcast released Thursday. “But it is great that death can be called the final enemy. It’s an enemy — but a final enemy — and then there will be no more tears.”
Senator Ben Sasse, who has just months to live,
“I believe in the resurrection, and I believe in a restoration of this world…” https://t.co/deEtWTj5cP
— Defiant L’s (@DefiantLs) April 10, 2026
“I believe in the resurrection, and I believe in a restoration of this world,” Sasse continued.
“We’re all on the clock, and I wanted to have prioritized better,” the father of three admitted. “Whether I really only have three or four months left, or nine to 12 months, I want to prioritize better from then.”
“I didn’t like the idea of my 14‑year‑old not having a dad around at 16. I didn’t like the idea of my daughters, who are 22 and 24, not having a parent there to walk them down the aisle,” Sasse, who served as president of the University of Florida, said.
.@BenSasse delivers a beautiful response to @DouthatNYT asking him if he’s ready to die.
When Ben makes Ross cry, he laughs and says, “happy to get him to open up a can of pansy ass.”
This is the beauty of male friendship. Dudes rock. pic.twitter.com/S2idWyJe8S
— Bradley Devlin (@bradleydevlin) April 10, 2026
After the initial Stage 4 pancreatic cancer diagnosis, Sasse was told by doctors that he also had lymphoma, vascular cancer, lung cancer and what he described as “bad” liver cancer.
“To try and buy as much time as possible, Sasse has been taking an experimental cancer drug called daraxonrasib. As a side effect, the medication prevents normal skin growth and causes widespread bleeding in areas ‘that shouldn’t be bleeding,’ Sasse said,” NBC News reported.
“I take it orally, but it’s a nasty drug. It causes crazy stuff like my body can’t grow skin and so I bleed all out of a whole bunch of parts of me that shouldn’t be bleeding,” Sasse explained.
“Cancer sucks,” he added. “But I’m pretty grateful that cancer is at stake against my delusional self‑idolatry.”
The way Ben Sasse is handling this entire thing is simply incredible. Strength, dignity, and humor while staring death in the face is rare and should be a teaching moment. Respect.
— qru (@krutility) April 10, 2026
“But I’ve continued to feel a peace about the fact that death is something that we should hate,” Sasse said. “We should call it a wicked thief. And yet, it’s pretty good that you pass through the veil of tears one time and then there will be no more tears, there will be no more cancer.”
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Originally from New York, Powers graduated from New York University and eventually made her way to sunny South Florida. Powers also contributes to BizPac Review.
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