Final Jeopardy!: Alex Trabek and the Battle Between Hope, Health, and Intellect

In a Nearly Hopeless Situation, Trabek Takes the Long Odds

As I watched Alex Trabek publicly deliver an emotionally-charged commitment to battle and beat the stage 4 pancreatic cancer with which he’s recently been diagnosed, it occured to me that, in situations such as this, hope and intellect sometimes play competing roles.

At the time that I made it to the final round of tryouts for Jeopardy! in Honolulu, Hawaii, at the Hilton Hawaiian Village in 2003, I had but one nameable fear: that at some point during my life I may be unable to think clearly.

It was a fear that had been with me ever since I could remember thinking about thinking. Whether it came as the result of the mental illness with which I struggle, a devastating accident, a traumatic brain incident, or an insidious condition that seeped in slowly under the guise of aging, it’s always been the most terrifying thing I can imagine.

Aside from my lifelong battle with depression, though, I was pretty carefree at the time. The rhythm of the waves, the gentle trade winds, the vibrant hibiscus, and the near-daily rainbows made it easy. What unusually little fear I experienced while hang-gliding, skydiving, swimming with sharks, and…