In a wide-ranging interview about seven weeks after his pancreatic cancer diagnosis, former U.S. Sen. Ben Sasse reflected on regret, faith and mortality. Speaking with Peter Robinson of the Hoover Institution, Sasse said he wishes he had been more intentional about balancing work and family life and observing the Sabbath during decades he described as workaholic. Now battling cancer that has spread to his spine and carries a 97% mortality rate, he is undergoing a clinical trial at MD Anderson Cancer Center. He acknowledged the physical pain and emotional weight of the diagnosis, saying it has reshaped how he prays and how he thinks about self-importance, time and family. When he dies, he said he plans to be buried in Arlington, Nebraska, overlooking the Elkhorn River.

Despite the grim prognosis, Sasse said he still believes his time in politics mattered, arguing that ordered liberty requires engagement even if politics should not become central to one’s life. He also discussed technology and culture, contending that greater access to information has not necessarily produced greater wisdom. Now sleeping up to 16 hours a day because of treatment, he recently wrote a Wall Street Journal opinion piece “on morphine” and is preparing to launch a podcast titled “Not Dead Yet,” a project renamed after his diagnosis. Above all, he said his primary motivation in pursuing treatment is to have more time to guide and support his 14-year-old son.

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