Former Sen. Ben Sasse reflects on mortality after stage-four cancer diagnosis

Former U.S. Sen. Ben Sasse spoke publicly this month about his terminal cancer diagnosis, reflecting on faith, family, and what it means to “redeem the time” in the face of death.

In an interview recorded Feb. 9 with Peter Robinson for the Hoover Institution’s “Uncommon Knowledge” podcast, the 53-year-old Nebraska Republican discussed confronting mortality after announcing in December 2025 that he had been diagnosed with metastasized, stage-four pancreatic cancer.

“I’ll cut to the chase: Last week I was diagnosed with metastasized, stage-four pancreatic cancer, and am gonna die,” Sasse wrote Dec. 23 in a lengthy post on X. “Advanced pancreatic is nasty stuff; it’s a death sentence. But I already had a death sentence before last week too — we all do.”

In the Feb. 9 interview, Sasse returned to themes of faith and purpose, invoking the phrase from Ephesians 5:16 to “redeem the time.” The phrase, he said, captures the need to live deliberately in light of life’s limits.

“You want to redeem the time,” Sasse said, urging listeners not to center their lives on their own ambition or career success but on family, forgiveness, and prayer.

Reflecting on the importance of intentional time with loved ones, he expressed regret for not spending more time with his family in his 20s and 30s due to extensive travel and for not taking the Sabbath more seriously to build deeper connections at home.

“What a mistake in my 20s and 30s to be so focused on a lot of work ambition that I just made way too many stupid decisions to be on the road, too many nights per month and per year,” he said. “If I had it to do over again, I would think a lot more intentionally about how to be more ambitious in my household and to take the Lord's day and the Sabbath more seriously.” 

Sasse described death as “a real enemy” but said “it does not get the final word,” reflecting his Christian conviction that mortality is not the end of the story.

The former senator also discussed broader concerns about American life, including congressional dysfunction, social fragmentation, the state of higher education and the moral challenges posed by rapid technological change. Throughout the conversation, he spoke candidly about regret, suffering, and the need to hold ambition lightly. 

He even read aloud from Alfred Lord Tennyson’s poem “Ring Out, Wild Bells,” quoting the lines: “Ring out, wild bells, to the wild sky, / The flying cloud, the frosty light; / The year is dying in the night; / Ring out, wild bells, and let him die.”

Interested readers can watch the full interview here.