Friday, March 7, 2008

Patrick Swayze diagnosed with pancreatic cancer

I know I am a bit late in reporting this story, but I wanted to wait until it was confirmed by another source other than the National Enquirer Unfortunately, it seems they were correct in their reporting and Patrick Swayze has indeed been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer.
The actor, best known for his role as a dancer from the other side of tracks in Dirty Dancing and the husband who won’t let even death separate him from his true love in Ghost, is reported to have been in treatment for pancreatic cancer since late last year. This type of cancer is considered one of the most lethal and hardest to treat.

While the National Enquirer gave quite a grim prognosis of Swayze having five weeks to live, his doctor and publicist went on record with People Magazine and said that everyone involved is optimistic that the disease can be treated. Swayze is also reported to be in fine enough spirits and health to continue to work on upcoming projects, including that of a reality show being developed for A&E. My deepest sympathies go out to Patrick and his family and my hope for a speedy recovery. I have to say as a young girl who grew up in the 80’s, Dirty Dancing could be one of the most important movies in my childhood. I was a musical theater geek, who was obsessed with the 50’s and 60’s and I fell in love with this film and Swayze in the movie. It’s also where I first began my obsession with Jerry Orbach, the late and gifted actor. Last year was the 20th anniversary of the film and Patrick stopped by The Tribeca Film Festival to participate in the showing of the film and dance contests. He was an incredible good sport and nice to everyone he met. I wish there were more actors out there who were kind in real life and were able to laugh at themselves like Swayze does.

But let's not get all mopey about this and try to look at the positives and the idea of recovery. I wanted to post something that Swayze did to make me laugh and the clip below is a perfect example of that. The clip is a skit from Saturday Night Live and it could be one of my top 20 of all time. Swayze and Chris Farley compete to be the next dancer at Chippendale's and well just watch it.

0 Comments: