Patrick Swayze's Cancer Diagnosis Confirmed by the Associated Press

Best know for his roles in Dirty Dancing, Ghost, and Road House, actor Patrick Swayze has been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer and is currently undergoing treatment. The actors mother Patsy confirmed to E! News that her son is sick but said she did not want to talk about it. Swayze's representative Annett Wolf confirmed reports in a statement to The Associated Press on Wednesday, March 5, 2008.

Swayze's doctor, Dr. George A. Fisher statement to Foxnews.com says that Swayze's has a limited amount of the disease and is responding well to the treatment. He also states that the 5-week prognosis stated in the National Enquirer is unfounded. Although Swayze's doctors gave him a good prognosis pancreatic cancer is one of the most aggressive and incurable forms of cancer. Only 5 percent of those diagnosed live longer than 5 years. These percentages can raise to somewhere around 15 percent if the cancer is detected and diagnosed early.

The 55-year-old actor was born in Houston, Texas and learned how to dance from his choreographer mother, Patsy Swayze. Although Swayze first appeared on film in 1979, he is most famous for his role as Johnny Castle in Dirty Dancing, where he cut the rug and set hearts a blazing along side Jennifer Grey.

Dirty Dancing was followed with Road House in 1989. In Road House, Swayze played a bouncer, James Dalton, at the Double Deuce. His Road House co-stars include Sam Elliot and Kelly Lynch. Ghost came along soon after in 1990, Swayze co-starred with Demi Moore and Whoopi Goldberg in this tearjerker.