Ben Sasse Opens Up About His Face, Stage 4 Cancer Battle, and "Wicked Thief" of Death

Former Republican Senator Ben Sasse, 54, gave one of the most arresting interviews of the year this week, appearing on camera with dried blood covering his face as he spoke candidly about living — and dying — with Stage 4 pancreatic cancer. The conversation, released Thursday on The New York Times' "Interesting Times" podcast, stopped the internet cold and brought urgent attention to an experimental drug now being watched closely by the medical community.

What Happened to Ben Sasse's Face

As a side effect of his experimental cancer drug called daraxonrasib, the medication prevents normal skin growth and causes widespread bleeding in areas that, as Sasse put it, "shouldn't be bleeding." In the video of the interview, Sasse can be seen with dried blood all over his face. He said his face feels "nuclear" and joked about frequent pharmacy visits, saying he is keeping that industry employed right now.

The medication inhibits normal skin regeneration, resulting in bleeding and a bubbling effect on his torso as well. Sasse continues to experience occasional waves of nausea and lingering fatigue as part of his ongoing treatment regimen at MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston.

Despite the brutal side effects, daraxonrasib has produced striking results. The tumor volume in Sasse's torso is down 76% since he began treatment in late December. He was also able to lower his morphine dose, reducing nausea and fatigue, and now rates his daily pain at a four out of ten — down from as high as eight at the time of his diagnosis.

Ben Sasse's Stage 4 Cancer Diagnosis and Five-Cancer Spread

Sasse told the podcast host that over the course of a few days after his initial scan, doctors told him he already had five forms of cancer: lymphoma, vascular, lung cancer, bad liver cancer, and pancreatic, where it originated. It was, he said, pretty clear they were dealing with a short number of months left to live.

Sasse sought medical attention after experiencing intense back pain he thought was from triathlon training. Scans revealed the cancer had already metastasized to Stage 4, with tumors pressing against his spinal column. In December, doctors gave him a prognosis of three to four months to live.

Now roughly 99 days past that prognosis, Sasse said he is doing considerably better than he was at Christmas. However, he acknowledged the cancer has already spread too widely to be overcome, comparing the situation to a yard full of dandelions that have seeded neighboring yards — even clearing the visible growth cannot undo what has already spread.

Ben Sasse on Faith, Family, and the "Not Dead Yet" Podcast

Even facing what Sasse described as three or four months to live, he told the New York Times he continued to feel a peace about death. "We should call it a wicked thief," he said. "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."

Sasse said the thought of leaving his wife and children behind carries deep heaviness. He said he did not like the idea of his 14-year-old son not having a dad around at 16, and he did not like the idea of his daughters, ages 22 and 24, not having their father to walk them down the aisle.

Despite his daily pain, Sasse continues working and conducting interviews for his podcast, titled "Not Dead Yet" — a reference to a Monty Python joke, reflecting the humor he has leaned on throughout his treatment. He said cancer has served as a corrective against what he called his own "delusional self-idolatry."

The Experimental Drug Ben Sasse Is Taking

Sasse is enrolled in a clinical trial at MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston involving a drug called daraxonrasib, developed by Silicon Valley company Revolution Medicines. His oncologists described their work as chipping away at a giant dam with a pickax — making small cracks, with hope that someday those cracks will converge and bring the dam down.

The medical community is closely watching daraxonrasib. In 2026, an estimated 67,530 Americans are expected to be diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, one of the hardest cancers to detect and treat, and 52,740 are expected to die from the disease. Sasse's very public battle is casting a rare national spotlight on the urgency of developing new treatments.