(Newser) – Alex Trebek has "kind of mind-boggling" news: Doctors say he's "near remission," the Jeopardy! host shares with People. Even though stage 4 pancreatic cancer, with which he was diagnosed, has just a 9% five-year survival rate, per ABC News, Trebek has been responding extremely well to chemotherapy. "The doctors said they hadn't seen this kind of positive result in their memory," the 78-year-old says. "Some of the tumors have already shrunk by more than 50%."

He still has several more rounds of chemotherapy to go to get to full remission, but Trebek says he cried "tears of joy" upon hearing about his progress. He credits the good wishes from friends and fans around the world with helping him to heal: "I told the doctors, this has to be more than just the chemo, and they agreed it could very well be an important part of this." (Trebek has been open about the depression he sometimes experiences.)

