Former Sen. Ben Sasse says cancer forcing him to tell the truth

Former U.S. senator and university president Ben Sasse said his cancer diagnosis has been a touch of grace. Sasse, diagnosed last year with Stage 4 pancreatic cancer, reflected on what the terminal disease has taught him in an interview with CBS News’ 60 Minutes. Sasse, 54, said he has valued how cancer has forced him to tell the truth to himself.

“The lie I want to tell myself is that I'm the center of everything and I'm going to be around forever,” said Sasse, who has been vocal about his faith as a reformed Christian. “And I can work harder, and store up enough, that I can atone for my own brokenness. I can't.”

Sasse told 60 Minutes he was living on extended time—doctors estimated he had only a few months left to live in December. At the time, he learned his cancer metastasized into a total of five cancers. He said a drug called daraxonrasib, which he is taking as part of a clinical trial, has helped give him extra time.

What else has cancer taught Sasse? He said his diagnosis was small in the grand scheme of things. While he said he hates cancer, he was grateful for how it has taught him to tell the truth.

Sasse, who has been married to his wife Melissa for 31 years, said he and his wife will be apart for a time. She will be fine as she is tough, gritty and theologically rooted, he said. He lamented that he wouldn't be there when his daughters, who are both in their 20s, get married and as his son, 14, becomes an adult. But, he said this hasn’t come as a surprise to God. He added he believes God has a plan, as there are “no maverick molecules in the universe.”

Sasse previously served as a senator for his home state of Nebraska from 2015 to 2023. Following this, he worked as the president of the University of Florida until 2024.

Dig deeper: Read Stephen Kloosterman’s report on the details of Sasse’s diagnosis.