R.I.P. Patrick Swayze

Today seems to be about twenty. This time it is twenty months. That's how long Patrick Swayze knew he had pancreatic cancer. That's nineteen months longer than my husband knew before he too succumbed to that awful disease.

Many people will be mourning the passing of Patrick and I will be one of them, some of his movies are classics. The line "nobody ever puts Baby in a corner" is one that pretty much everyone knows. I loved his movies from Red Dawn that his co-star was his wife Lisa Niemi to Road House, Ghost, which was a special favorite of mine and my husband's, and everything inbetween. To Wong Foo, Thanks for Everything! Julie Newmar was a great movie that was so very funny and then there was North and South, the mini-series on television. All of them showed his versatility and talent.

Not one of them showed the strength and grit that he must have had as a person to withstand that disease as long as he did. I know from close personal experience it is horribly painful. Having seen what this disease does to a loved one, my heart goes out to Lisa and to their friends and family. It's not pretty, it doesn't discriminate and there is currently no cure.

Quoting the National Cancer Institute:

Pancreatic cancer is difficult to detect and diagnose for the following reasons:

There aren’t any noticeable signs or symptoms in the early stages of pancreatic cancer.

The signs of pancreatic cancer, when present, are like the signs of many other illnesses.

The pancreas is hidden behind other organs such as the stomach, small intestine, liver, gallbladder, spleen, and bile ducts.

I don't know what symptoms led to Patrick's diagnosis that gave him 20 months, but for my husband we had no idea until they did surgery for what the doctors believed was operable, curable liver cancer. Once they opened him up, that's when they discovered pancreatic cancer and less than a month later he lost the battle. A battle that I have to say in all honesty was very difficult to watch as that horrible, deadly disease caused him untold pain and discomfort for those short weeks. It was a blessing that he went so quickly.

My heart bleeds for the Swazye family and any others facing this deadly killer. My only wish is that because of what Mr. Swazye, Michael Landon, Luciano Pavarotti, Gene Upshaw, Jack Benny (also had lung cance) and my husband faced, that the National Cancer Society and those others researching cures for cancer will find one for this monster.

R.I.P Patrick Swayze.