'Jeopardy!' host Alex Trebek honors 'wonderful' wife amid cancer battle

Alex Trebek is making sure that his "wonderful" wife, Jean Currivan, is getting the credit she deserves for embracing difficult role of being a caretaker during his cancer battle.

The "Jeopardy!" host, 78, announced that he had been diagnosed with stage 4 pancreatic cancer in March, and he told People magazine this week that he's "near remission," with "some of the tumors [already having] shrunk by more than 50 percent."

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Trebek hasn't fought his cancer, alone, of course: His wife, Currivan, 54, who he's been married to for 29 years, has been right by his side as a loyal and supportive caretaker this this year.

"Jeannie is wonderful," he told People. "She cried of course this morning when she got the [good] news [about my tumors shrinking]. But it's been a lot. It's a lot of pressure."

"My heart goes out to caregivers," Trebek went on. "Because they have to deal with their loved ones suffering and they also don't always know how to help because there's not much they can do, except try to make you feel more comfortable, at ease and not worry about ordinary stuff."

"They've also got to be strong and not allow their mate not to feel like they're downhearted, too," he added.

Trebek and Currivan share two children together -- son, Matthew, 28, and daughter, Emily, 25 -- who the game show host said look at him "as Mr. Strong."

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"They think, if anybody's going to beat this, dad will," he explained of his kids. "They've very positive, and until I demonstrate otherwise, they're going to continue in that vein."

And Trebek has no reason not to remain positive, despite his cancer's usual 9 percent survival rate. Though he's expected to have to go through more rounds of chemotherapy, he's responded well to the treatment well so far.

"It's kind of mind-boggling," he said this week. "The doctors said they hadn't seen this kind of positive result in their memory."