Former Republican Sen. Ben Sasse said he is facing the “heaviness” his family will feel once he dies of cancer.

Sasse, who served as a senator for Nebraska for eight years, revealed in December that he has Stage 4 pancreatic cancer, calling it “a death sentence.” The former lawmaker, 54, has a wife and three children. His son was only 14 when he learned of his father’s cancer diagnosis, Sasse said.