Former Republican Senator Ben Sasse opened up about his faith and personal outlook following a recent terminal cancer diagnosis during an emotional interview. Sasse, a Republican who represented Nebraska in the U.S. Senate from 2015 until 2023, revealed that he received a diagnosis of terminal cancer some months ago and spoke candidly about how the news has shaped his perspective.
He discussed the role of his Christian faith in helping him cope with the prognosis, describing it as a source of comfort and strength.
In the interview, Sasse reflected on family, legacy, and his approach to the future amid the health challenge. He emphasized the importance of focusing on meaningful relationships and remaining grounded in his beliefs.
“Once we got diagnosed, we knew that the probability of a relatively near-term death is pretty high,” Sasse said during a nearly hour-long conversation with Michael Horton and Dan Bryant, a former assistant attorney general at the U.S. Department of Justice, published on Sola Media’s YouTube page.
“And so, A, to live as Christ, to die is gain,” Sasse said.
“We felt amazingly blessed that Melissa, my wife, and I immediately were at peace about all this. But because one of our three kids is still at home — our girls are 24 and 22, and my son’s 14 — you felt like you had an obligation to try to fight a little bit,” he added.
In December, Sasse announced he had been diagnosed with metastatic Stage 4 pancreatic cancer and called it “a death sentence.”
Sasse, who previously served as the director of White Horse Inn and executive editor of Modern Reformation at Sola Media, stated that his faith has helped him cope with his diagnosis.
“The foolishness of our works are pretty apparent to you when you try to really look at the accounting of a life,” Sasse said. “Jesus did everything on the cross to fulfill the whole law. I fulfilled none of it. He fulfilled all of it.”
After Sasse retired from the Senate he became president of the University of Florida.
He also mentioned during the interview that the disease has changed his understanding of what truly matters, calling many things he once valued deeply as “pointless.”
“I have a bunch of tumors that have grown in and around my spinal column, and, so, I had some tough pain that was hard to make sense of,” he said. “And it definitely shattered idols really fast; lots of dumb stuff that I cared too much about, and I was too self-reliant about, seemed really pointless.”
Sasse also expressed a desire to emphasize attending church and observing the Sabbath more.
“One thing I tell my kids a lot is, ‘Man, I wish I’d taken the Lord’s Day more seriously more in my life, because it’s a really good antidote to all those idolatries,’” Sasse said. “God smashing idols for us is a blessing, and having a death sentence is a really good way.”
The former Nebraska Republican in 2024 after his diagnosis. He announced his condition and prognosis in a lengthy X post in December.
“This is a tough note to write, but since a bunch of you have started to suspect something, I’ll cut to the chase,” Sasse wrote. “Last week I was diagnosed with metastasized, stage four pancreatic cancer, and am gonna die.”
Sasse described the disease in blunt terms while acknowledging the reality of his condition.
“Advanced pancreatic is nasty stuff, it’s a death sentence,” he wrote. “But I already had a death sentence before last week too, we all do.”
The former senator said he now has limited time remaining.
“I’ve got less time than I’d prefer,” Sasse wrote.
Despite the diagnosis, Sasse said his faith remains central as he approaches the Christmas season.