Patrick Swayze’s widow reveals actor’s first subtle symptoms of cancer

After Patrick Swayze died from complications of pancreatic cancer, his wife Lisa Niemi Swayze, vowed to spread awareness about the silent killer.

Since his death in 2009, Niemi Swayze has worked tirelessly to not only keep her late husband’s memory alive, but to warn others about the symptoms of pancreatic cancer.

Patrick Swayze cancer symptoms
“I still care and I know how tough Patrick’s and my journey was with this,” she said. “Cancer may have taken him, but it didn’t beat him. And I’m continuing his fight for him.”

Swayze was diagnosed with cancer in 2007, and in less than two years he was dead.

Niemi Swayze, who remarried in 2014, said the actor’s first symptoms were yellow eyes and digestive problems.

”He came to me and he said, ‘Do my eyes look yellow?’” she told TODAY.

He wanted to wait to visit the doctor, but Niemi Swayze insisted they go the following day because “yellow eyes just doesn’t sound normal.”

”We went to the doctor and the moment he looked at him and saw what was going on, he sent us immediately for a CT scan.”

Patrick Swayze pancreatic cancer
”Then we had a grueling 24 hours to wait while we got the reports back. It was a really tough time. Your life just turns on a dime,” she recalled.

An endoscopic procedure confirmed Swayze had pancreatic cancer.

Since pancreatic cancer is one of the most difficult to treat, Niemi Swayze recalls most doctors prepared patients for the end. But the couple refused to accept the death sentence.

”We fought it for as long as his body could. It was a tough journey, but it was worth it. When you love someone and they’re on this Earth with you, every moment is precious. Every bit of fight we did was worth it for that extra time.”

Many thought that it was Swayze’s continuous smoking habit that had killed him. During his cancer treatment, Swayze continued to work – and smoke.

“I’ve seriously cut down,” Patrick told Barbara Walters. “I was one of those dumb ones that started back in the Marlborough Man days whose — you know, it was cool. I’m a cowboy. But I’ll tell you one thing. I will talk so hard core against, against smoking for kids. That’s one reason I’ve never smoked in front of children.”

Yet, according to his doctor, that wasn’t the case. Instead, he saw it as “quite an accomplishment” that Swayze survived as long as two years with the condition.

”I think at the point that one is already diagnosed with cancer, there’s little additional harm in it,” Dr. Fisher said. “And if it — it seems to provide him some comfort or partly identity of who he is, I certainly have no objections to that.”

Patrick Swayze last words
On September 14, 2009, 20 months after he was diagnosed with cancer, Patrick Swayze died. Before his passing, Patrick provided his mother with a house and also sent her a monthly allowance, which his wife Lisa continued to do. He also left his $40 million fortune to his wife.

Niemi stayed by her husband’s side in his final hours and can still recall the final words they shared with each other:

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“My last words to Patrick? ‘I love you,’ and those were his last words to me,” she recalled.

“I lay back at Buddy’s side, I held his hand and felt his pulse again… And then he didn’t breathe any more.”

Since then Niemi Swayze has continued the fight to bring awareness to the rare, but deadly disease.

She has worked with Pancreatic Cancer Action Network since 2010 as well as advocated on Capitol Hill for more funding for research.

”Just because Patrick passed on … didn’t mean that fight was over, and I was carrying that on for him,” she said.

Last photo
Patrick Swayze’s widow, Lisa Niemi, faced a tough choice when deciding whether to share a deeply personal photograph of her late husband in her memoir.

The image, taken in the final days of Swayze’s life in 2009, shows the beloved actor frail, bald, and asleep as he neared the end of his battle with pancreatic cancer.

Initially, Niemi had no intention of ever using the photo, but while writing her book, Worth Fighting For: Love, Loss & Moving Forward, she found herself drawn to the image. She ultimately decided to include it, even though she questioned whether Swayze, known for his pride and strength, would have approved.

Speaking to Entertainment Tonight on January 3, 2012, the day she posted the photo online, Niemi reflected on her difficult decision.

”Being sick wasn’t always the most dignified-looking thing, and Patrick was a man with a lot of pride,” she explained. Despite her uncertainty, she felt the image represented a profound truth. ”It was the truth,” she said firmly, acknowledging the vulnerability and reality of their shared journey through his illness.

What Lisa Niemi Swayze is doing to bring awareness to this horrible disease is very much needed. It’s so important to know the first signs of pancreatic cancer, especially since it’s such a difficult disease to treat.

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