Patrick Swayze Died Because of Cancer

R.I.P Patrick Swayze (N/A)

Hollywood lose another legend this year. Dirty Dancing star, Patrick Swayze died on Monday after a long 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 Swayze’s publicist, Annett Wolf, in a statement Monday evening. Wolf informed that the actor died at his home in Los Angeles, but gave no further details.

The actor had his break through in 1983 with the movie The Outsiders. After that, he danced his way and had an iconic role in 1987’s Dirty Dancing and 1990’s Ghost. In January 2008, Swayze announced that he was diagnosed with stage 4 pancreatic cancer, one of the most deadly forms of the disease, and at the time that the cancer had already spread to his liver.

But despite the diagnosis, he kept working on his memoir that he wrote with wife Lisa Niemi and also shooting The Beast, an A&E drama series for which he had already made the pilot. The show drew a respectable 1.3 million viewers when the 13 episodes ran in 2009, but A&E said it had reluctantly decided not to renew it for a second season.

When he first went public with the illness, some reports gave him only weeks to live, but his doctor said his situation was “considerably more optimistic” than that. Swayze acknowledged that time might be running out given the grim nature of the disease. In an interview with Barbara Walters early this year, Swayze admitted, “There’s a lot of fear here. Yeah, I’m scared. Yeah, I’m angry. Yeah, I’m [asking], ‘Why me?’ ”

But Swayze also said some of his hopeful optimism, “I’d say five years is pretty wishful thinking. Two years seems likely if you’re going to believe statistics. I want to last until they find a cure, which means I’d better get a fire under it.”

Patrick Swayze is survived by his wife of 32 years, Lisa Niemi and his mother, Patsy. Rest in Peace, Mr. Swayze…

[ via Yahoo! News ]

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