The Alleged Cancer Diagnosis of Patrick Swayze and My Own Experience

My Experience in Dealing with a Loved One's Cancer

According to the National Enquirer, 55-year-old actor Patrick Swayze is dying with cancer. Swayze, best known for his role in the movie Dirty Dancing, was diagnosed in January with pancreatic cancer and told he has only 5 weeks to live. Since the diagnosis, the cancer has spread to other organs, despite radical chemotherapy. According to the Enquirer, he has lost approximately 20 pounds and is now on a liquid diet because he cannot keep solid food down, and doctors are no longer hopeful that any treatments will be successful.

Finding out that yourself or a loved one is going to die is something that is shocking and totally unexpected. Most people have pondered the question "what if I found out news like this?" I certainly have, wondering if I would fall apart or handle it with dignity and grace.

I have personally lost several of my loved ones to cancer. Finding out someone you love has been diagnosed with cancer is not an automatic death sentence as it once was. Early diagnosis and new treatments have made the possibility of survival much better than it was years ago.

When I found out my father had throat cancer due to years of smoking, I wasn't sure how bad it was. He never wanted to talk about his actual diagnosis or his prognosis. He was a jokester and the last thing he ever wanted us to do was worry about him. As it turns out, he was not actually given a prognosis. He was given many treatment options, and he took advantage of all of them. He managed to hold on for two years after his diagnosis. At times his health report would look like there was actual improvement. At other times, it appeared that he was going downhill fast. When his cancer spread to other organs and it became evident that all treatments had been exhausted with him, we all knew that his days were numbered.

His mental attitude was one in which he was determined to continue to do everything for himself. It is very difficult for someone who is used to being independent to come to the realization that they can no longer do so. I remember vividly how my father was determined not to get into the bed. Somewhere inside he knew that if he got into the bed, he would never be getting out of it.