Actor Patrick Swayze will appear on a Barbara Walters Special tonight (8 Central/9 Pacific) a year ago (to the week) from when Patrick was diagnosed with Stage 4 of inoperable, pancreatic cancer.
Patrick Swayze, age 56, the star of the big hits "Dirty Dancing" and "Ghost", has already lived beyond expected time periods, and is even currently working as an actor......in a new action filled series called "The Beast." The Beast" is a new A & E police drama which premieres next week. Filming meant grueling 12 hour workdays, with chemotherapy session on the weekends. Patrick Swayze chose to reject painkilling drugs during filming, saying that they would have also taken the edge off of his performances and it was important to him to do his best for the show and for himself.
"You can bet that I'm going through hell," Swayze says. "And I've only seen the beginning of it."
As he told Barbara Walters " I've never been one to run from a challenge" but admitted he was scared ..."Yeah, I'm scared. I'm angry. I'm (asking) "Why me?"
He is also furious with the tabloids whose headlines have proclaimed devastatingly inaccurate predictions of how many weeks he has left to live. As he says "Hope is a very fragile thing in anyones' life." "Am I dead? Am I giving up?"..."No way!"
Like Randy Pausch , Patrick Swayze in Stage 4 of Pancreatic Cancer, which is considered the final, terminal stage. But like Randy, Patrick is a strong man, who loves his family dearly and is doing his best to fight this terrible disease.
Researchers are not sure what triggers this terrible, painful disease, but it is thought that smoking increases one's risk, and yes, Patrick Swayze did and does continue to smoke. Besides the incredibly addictive nature of smoking and the even more stressful trigger of chemotherapy and battling for one's life, Patrick has not been able to stop.
Talking to Barbara he has said, that if he knew he actually was in an upswing with a chance for a cure, he would "stop smoking in a heartbeat." But he does admit "Probably, smoking had something to do with my pancreatic cancer." He has seriously cut down, but yes, he continues to smoke and adds "I'm a cowboy." and "dumb me, I grew up in the Marlborough Man days."
Inspite of how we might feel about choices, faith, and hope...we must always remember that each of us has the right to choose to live our lives as we choose and learn from that happens to us, with us and as a result of us...along the way.
My thoughts and prayers go out to Patrick and his family, just as they do for all who suffer pain, illness, death or loss of any kind. And I hope that you will take a moment to understand that by openly talking about other's battles and trials, we open our own ability to better understand, reach out towards and send our own love and healing energies outwards towards others.
shown above:
Patrick Swayze, and with his wife of 33 years, Lisa Niemi, also a very talented dancer.
Latest update on Patrick Swayze:
NEW YORK (Jan. 16) -- Patrick Swayze, who had checked himself into a hospital for pneumonia, tells PEOPLE that he's "almost in the clear" when it comes to the pneumonia, joking that he's "alive and plan on continuing to stay that way."
The 56-year-old actor says that he realized he was coughing and that it was mostly likely due to an infection and that he "wanted to jump on it before it turned into a problem." Swayze told PEOPLE. "As soon as I got home, I called my doctor and then went straight to the hospital and was immediately put on antibiotics."
The week before this hospitalization, Swayze gave an emotional interview talking about his life, the love of his life, his wife Lisa, and his yearlong "hell" battle with cancer. During the interview, he inferred that based on statistics....he may not live more than two more years.
Other articles have suggest that most pancreatic cancer patients (in Patrick's 'late' stage 4, live for about 6 months and that statistically, 1 in 5 patients live more than 1 year. Even with such daunting statistics, Patrick Swayze remains unflinchingly courageous and optimistic and is truly an inspiration to other pancreatic cancer survivors.
Update: Patrick Swayze Dies at Age 57 : 09-14-09
Patrick Swayze, the actor who danced his way into "the time of his life" and into viewers' hearts with "Dirty Dancing" and then broke them with "Ghost," died Monday after a battle with pancreatic cancer. He was 57. "Patrick Swayze passed away peacefully today with family at his side after facing the challenges of his illness for the last 20 months," said a statement released Monday evening by his publicist, Annett Wolf. No other details were given.
3 comments:
"...And I hope that you will take a moment to understand that by openly talking about other's battles and trials, we open our own ability to better understand, reach out towards and send our own love and healing energies outwards towards others..."
AMEN, dear Michele ~ AMEN!!
I first heard about how awful stage 4 pancreatic cancer was when it took my uncle in less than a month from when he was diagnosed. I next ran across it when singer/song writer Dan Fogelberg was diagnosed. I realize that smoking is terribly addictive, and I hope that such stories as Patrick Swayze help others to quit or just not start.
Singer/songwriter Dan Fogelberg was diagnosed (and died from) advanced prostate cancer, not pancreatic cancer. He did, however, smoke for 25 years but had quit 10 years before his death. Dec. 16, 2009, will mark two years since his death, and he is still so dearly missed.
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