Ben Sasse Feels a 'Heaviness' About Kids After Prognosis

Ben Sasse doesn't have long to live, and the former senator from Nebraska spoke with Russ Douthat about that for the latter's Interesting Times podcast. The 54-year-old has stage 4 pancreatic cancer, notes the Hill. Some highlights from the interview, via the New York Times, where Douthat is a columnist.

• "I didn't like the idea of my 14-year-old son not having a dad around at 16," said the father of three. "I didn't like the idea of my daughters, who are 22 and 24, not having their dad there to walk them down the aisle. I felt a real heaviness about that."

• But, he added, "I've continued to feel a peace about the fact that death is something that we should hate. We should call it a wicked thief. And yet, it's pretty good that you pass through the veil of tears one time and then there will be no more tears, there will be no more cancer."
• He received his diagnosis in December, with doctors giving him only months to live. "I'm at Day 99 or something since then, and I'm doing a heck of a lot better than I was doing at Christmas." Medication has helped with nausea, though Sasse conducted the interview with dried blood on his face, a side effect of the drug daraxonrasib.
• The blood prompted this exchange: "You look terrible," said Douthat. "Thank you," replied Sasse. "How do you feel?" asked the host. "I feel better than I deserve," answered Sasse.
• Read the transcript, or watch the interview.