Jeopardy! host Alex Trebek told People that his stage-four pancreatic cancer is now in “near remission,” according to his doctors. “It’s kind of mind-boggling,” the 78-year-old said. The aggressive form of cancer has only a nine percent survival rate. Trebek, however, has reportedly been responding well to his chemotherapy treatment. “The doctors said they hadn’t seen this kind of positive result in their memory… some of the tumors have already shrunk by more than 50 percent,” he said. The positive prognosis does not mean the longtime host is out of the woods. Trebek says he has several more rounds of the therapy before he can be declared in full remission.

When Trebek was first diagnosed with cancer three months ago, he received an outpouring of support from devoted fans. “I’ve got a couple million people out there who have expressed their good thoughts, their positive energy directed towards me and their prayers,” he said. “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... I’ve got a lot of love out there headed in my direction... and I will never ever minimize the value of that.”