The bad news: The “Dirty Dancing” and “Ghost” star has been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer.
The good news: According to Patrick Swayze’s doctor, the actor “has a very limited amount of disease and he appears to be responding well to treatment thus far.”
It’s not everyday that a celeb’s doctor releases a statement to the media, but apparently some news outlets have been erroneously reporting that Swayze was given a year to live while others noted that the actor has been hit with serious side effects and was bedridden. All of which is untrue, according to Swayze’s physician.
In fact the actor’s rep said today that Swayze is “continuing his normal schedule during this time, which includes working on upcoming projects.”
The 55-year-old movie star (besides his breakout role in “Dirty Dancing” and his coupling with Demi Moore in the 1990 blockbuster “Ghost,” Swayze also appeared in 2001’s “Donnie Darko” and 1995’s “To Wong Foo Thanks for Everything, Julie Newmar”) and Broadway regular (in the ’70s he played the lead role of Danny Zucco in “Grease” and in 2003, had a brief stint in the revival of “Chicago”) is reportedly being cared for by a team of medical professionals and his wife of more than 30 years, Lisa Niemi.
Despite suffering from what doctors call “one of the most serious of cancers” (because it spreads so rapidly), Swayze’s rep says the pilot the actor shot in December called “The Beast,” in which he plays an unconventional FBI agent, is being eyed as a possible series by the cable network A&E. Should the show get green lighted for the new season Swayze is scheduled to continue shooting new episodes.
The National Cancer Institute estimates there will be 37,680 new cases of pancreatic cancer in 2008 with 34,290 deaths in the United States. Sadly, according to statistics. only five percent of patients live more than five years after being diagnosed.