This year marks 15 years since Patrick Swayze's life was cut short after his tragic death from pancreatic cancer.
The Dirty Dancing star would have marked his 72nd birthday in 2024, but he sadly passed away in 2009 at the age of 57 after a 20-month battle with the disease. Patrick left behind his wife, writer Lisa Niemi, to whom he married for 34 years.
Despite the sad circumstances of his early death, Swayze's story highlighted the deadly nature of a cancer that often lacks early detection and treatment.
The talented actor and dancer spoke about the persistent symptom he experienced before his diagnosis. Here is everything you need to know about the Point Break actor's fight with pancreatic cancer, as reported by the Express.
Diagnosed with the condition in late 2007, Swayze was open about his symptoms and treatment, thus raising awareness for the 10th most common cancer in the UK.
The lack of research, particularly back in 2009 when the star passed away, was due to the fact that many individuals who contracted the disease didn't tend to recover. In Swayze's case, the cancer spread to his liver and even after more than a year of chemotherapy and an experimental drug trial, he was unable to recover from the disease.
Admitting that he was "going through hell" after a year-long battle with the condition, this was just one example of how Swayze spoke openly about his cancer, his treatment, his thoughts and fears, and his prognosis.
"There's a lot of fear here," Swayze admitted. "There's a lot of stuff going on. Yeah, I'm scared. Yeah, I'm angry. Yeah, I'm [asking] why me. Yeah, I'm all this stuff."
What were the cancer warning signs?
Patrick detailed the alarm bells that initially made him question his health. He recounted an incident around New Year's Eve where drinking champagne felt like "pouring acid" over an open wound.
"My indigestion issues got gigantic and constant. And then I started thinking, I'm getting skinny. I dropped about 20 pounds in the blink of an eye. And then when you see it in the mirror, when all of a sudden, you pull your eyes down and the bottom of your eyes go yellow and jaundice sets in - then you know something's wrong."
Upon delving into his own research with growing concern, which yielded ominous results, Swayze sought professional medical advice. It wasn't long before he was diagnosed with a malignant tumour in his midsection, accompanied by a small mass on his liver.
"[I] started realising this is not pretty. This is not a good thing," he said.
Despite seeking to maintain privacy regarding his health battles, tabloid speculation and misinformation soon erupted, falsely claiming he had mere weeks to live. Tragically, like approximately 80% of patients with pancreatic cancer, Swayze's diagnosis came after the cancer had metastasised.
Pancreatic cancer symptoms
Pancreatic cancer symptoms can often be dismissed as minor ailments, such as stomach pain or unexplained weight loss, which might be attributed to conditions like irritable bowel syndrome (IBS). It's crucial to understand that having these symptoms doesn't necessarily indicate pancreatic cancer, but it is essential to consult a GP for a proper diagnosis.
Early detection of cancer significantly increases the chances of successful treatment.
In light of this, symptoms to be vigilant about and discuss with a GP include:
- Losing a noticeable amount of weight over the last six to 12 months without trying
- The whites of your eyes or your skin turn yellow
- Being sick for more than two days
- Diarrhoea for more than seven days
- A condition that causes symptoms with your digestion that are not getting better after two weeks of using your usual treatments.
Reflecting on the influence that Patrick Swayze had on the perception of pancreatic cancer within the medical community and among the public, Dr Joe Hines, director of the UCLA Agi Hirshberg Center for Pancreatic Disease and board member of the Hirshberg Foundation for Pancreatic Cancer Research, remarked: "It's a disease that - because it's been rare and most people don't do very well from that traditionally - there wasn't a lot of attention and there weren't a lot of researchers focused on it."
"Now, over the past decade, with advocacy like Mr Swayze did and others, there's excellent science going on and that clearly is translating into improved treatment."
Echoing Dr Hines' sentiments, Julie Fleshman, president and CEO of the Pancreatic Cancer Action Network, referred to Swayze as "a turning point" for raising awareness efforts.
Fleshman added that the star of Dirty Dancing helped humanise pancreatic cancer: "He absolutely changed the conversation that we were having about this disease. He put a real face behind it," Fleshman said.
"He gave people a reason to say, 'Oh, Patrick Swayze, pancreatic cancer, wow. If there was nothing that could be done for him, this is something that we really need to get involved in and we really need to change.'"
Treatment
Following diagnosis, a person's course of treatment for pancreatic cancer largely depends on the cancer's stage, size and type, its progression, and individual's general wellbeing.
Typical treatments for the disease are chemotherapy, radiotherapy and supportive care. TreatmentSurgery, according to the NHS, is a key treatment for pancreatic cancer. This involves removing part or, in some cases, the entire pancreas. It may also involve removing all or part of nearby organs.
Additionally, surgery can be used to manage symptoms of the disease. Chemotherapy and radiotherapy, meanwhile, are used to kill cancer cells. They can be used before surgery to shrink the tumour or after surgery to alleviate symptoms in more advanced cases of cancer.
