In 2019, Alex Trebek made the difficult decision to share his cancer diagnosis with the public, but it raised awareness. By doing that, he raised so much awareness about pancreatic cancer. One of the issues with public awareness is that unfortunately the patients don’t live long enough to tell their story and to raise awareness,” Fleshman said. “It really allows people and the general audience to understand that pancreatic cancer is real, and it can affect you or it can affect me,” said Dr. David Kwon, clinical director of Henry Ford Pancreatic Cancer Center. Trebek died from pancreatic cancer about 20 months after he was diagnosed, but his shared journey has left a lasting impact.