The truth is, “It is appointed unto men once to die” (Hebrews 9:27). The way Sasse has stewarded this physical trial reminds Christians that we have all been entrusted with a brief window in which to live. Though our death may not be as public as his, our faith certainly can be. Landry observed that there is no difference between the “public” Sasse and the private “Sasse,” and no major difference between how Sasse prioritized his life before he knew he was dying and after. 

Kevin Nelson and his family once received a print of Gustave Dore’s “Adam and Eve Driven Out of Eden” as a gift from a congregant. In the work, Adam and Eve stagger toward the viewer surrounded by thorns and thistles, while a sword-wielding angel behind them guards the entrance to Eden.

The congregant was Melissa Sasse, wife of former U.S. Senator Ben Sasse.

Nelson — who pastors Faith Presbyterian Church in Gainesville, Florida — believes the print epitomizes the way the Sasse family approaches life in a fallen world. 

“There is meaningful work to be done. There are important things that are good, but [the Sasses] never put their hope in this life … They know that they are here as pilgrims. This is not their home. And yet, it’s a life that has all sorts of beautiful God-given callings, and they want to do as much as they can in this life to serve God and glorify him.” 

Nelson said this approach to adversity was true for the Sasse family when Melissa was the only one with serious health challenges. Now that Ben has Stage 4 metastatic pancreatic cancer, the family’s outlook has not changed. 

Ben Sasse, a former U.S. Senator from Nebraska and two-time university president, has chosen to spend his remaining days on earth calling Christians and his fellow countrymen to the hard work of institution and community building in the places where God has placed them. 

Though the public has recently become acquainted with Ben Sasse’s faith, he and his family have been active participants in Presbyterian congregations for decades. ByFaith spoke with some of the men, like Nelson, who have pastored the Sasse family, and they say Sasse’s public witness is no surprise. They have observed and benefitted from Sasse’s love for the church and genuine faith. 

“Better Than I Deserve”

In December 2025, Sasse announced on social media that he had been diagnosed with cancer.

“Last week I was diagnosed with metastasized, stage-four pancreatic cancer, and am gonna die,” Sasse, 54, wrote in a post on X on December 23.

Initially, Sasse was given 3-4 months to live, but an experimental drug therapy has given him more time than he initially expected, though the drug, daraxonrasib, has brutal side effects. When Sasse appeared on Ross Douthat’s podcast, “Interesting Times,” his face was caked with dried blood.

“It’s a nasty drug,” Sasse told Douthat. “It causes crazy stuff like my body can’t grow skin, and so I bleed all out of a whole bunch of parts of me that shouldn’t be bleeding.” 

Still, Sasse wouldn’t complain. 

“I feel better than I deserve,” he said. 

That genuine gratitude has defined how the Sasses have approached life and adversity. 

The Sasse family began attending Faith when Sasse became president of the University of Florida in 2023. Nelson recalls the Sasses sharing with him early in their time at Faith about Melissa’s epilepsy diagnosis and the serious impacts it had on the family. Though Melissa’s health has improved, her illness has shaped the way the family sees the world.

“The gospel isn’t a game with them,” Nelson said. “They understand that part of the gospel is the bad news that they are sinners deserving condemnation. So part of how they think about their life is they have gotten far more than they deserve.”

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