Patrick Swayze Tells All About His Pancreatic Cancer with Barbara Walters

Barbara Walters exclusive interview with Patrick Swayze aired tonight at 9:00 p.m. on CBS. Patrick Swayze had agreed to tell all, about his year long battle with pancreatic cancer. This will be his first interview since his diagnosis. Swayze was diagnosed with stage lV pancreatic cancer in January of 2008. Stage lV pancreatic cancer means that the cancer cells have spread from the pancreas to other organs such as the liver, lungs and the lining of the abdomen that surrounds the internal organs. Prognosis at this stage is very grim.

I have decided to write this article, not about the actor, but about the man, Patrick Swayze, his extraordinary courage and the special love that he and his wife share. Patrick Swayze met his wife at his Mom's dance studio when she was at the tender age of 16, and he was 20. They felt a connection and have been dancing together ever since. They have now been married for 33 years and nothing, including death will keep them apart.

Patrick first noticed his illness when he started losing weight. He dropped 20 pounds in the drop of a hat and when he went to look in the mirror and pulled his eyelid down he noticed the yellow jaundice in his eyes, that is when he realized something was really wrong. He went to the doctor and they ran tests. Mass after mass was found in his liver. He was rather dopey from the drugs when the tests were finished, so his wife Lisa decided that this was not the time to break pancreatic cancer to him. She was also hesitant due to the fact that once the news was broken, there would never be any going back to the life they once knew.

When the news was broken to Patrick, he felt that this was the nightmare that you couldn't wake up from. You have to decide what you must do next. There is no cancer worse than pancreatic cancer. Patrick felt he was in the wrong place at the wrong time. That is when Swayze thought, "You either get busy living or you get busy dying. You visualize the enemy, you get explicit. You think, you son of a bitch, your not gonna beat me! I have survived longer than most...I'm not winning, but I'm not giving up."

Cigarette use is a known risk of pancreatic cancer. When Barbara Walters asked Patrick Swayze if he felt that his smoking may have contributed to his pancreatic cancer he agreed. "My smoking may have caused the cancer...probably, but I am still smoking. Do I think that my stopping smoking will change anything? No. When it looks like I may live longer than five minutes, yes I will stop smoking."

When asked abut his wife's role through it all, Patrick Swayze said that he couldn't handle it, if it hadn't been for Lisa. She has helped me get through it all. Patrick said that he felt that he and his wife were soul mates in another life. He didn't think that you could be that close and not have been together on another level.

Patrick Swayze and his wife renewed their wedding vows of marriage on their private ranch. Patrick rode in on a white stallion. This time was way better than the first time, because after 36 years of being together, they knew what they were getting into. After all of their years together and all that they had experienced, this was one of the happiest days ever.

Barbara Walters asked of Patrick Swayze if he had come to terms with his illness. "I have of course, I know that all of us must die, whether sooner or later." "How will I do that? I'll figure it out when I get there!" "I don't want to be a poster child for cancer. It's gonna be a long hard battle, but this cancer isn't going away!"

Barbara Walters then asked Patrick Swayze how long he felt he had to live. He replied "I betcha I can be around for a long time, moment to moment. When I feel that the fight isn't matching up to the quality of life, then it's time to go. When you get too tired to fight. That's when it's time to go. But I gotta long time left." "5 years is hopeful...2 years if I believe statistics."

When Barbara Walters asked if he was scared of dying, Patrick Swayze replied, "Scared...I don't know. Truthfully it would be stupid to say no. I have to say yes. I don't know what's on the other side."

Barbara Walters said that she would come back in a couple of years to do another interview. Patrick Swayze said , ".Why not? I'll be here...or I won't."

The thing that pulled at my heartstrings, was the reference to the movie "Ghost" that Patrick Swayze had starred in a few years ago. A line at the end of the movie, where the character he portrayed said to his wife, before dying, "Molly, you take the love with you." If you caught the look on his face and the love in his eyes, for his wife, you were moved to tears.

May God bless you Patrick Swayze.