Patrick
Swayze Dies of Pancreatic Cancer
Star Had Advanced
Pancreatic Cancer, Served as Cancer Research Advocate
Swayze,
57, died "peacefully" with his family at his side, Swayze's
publicist, Annett Wolf, said in a statement published by the Associated Press.
Although
Swayze's memorable movie roles in Dirty Dancing and Ghost
ingratiated him into the hearts and minds of legions of fans, he will also be
remembered for the awareness he helped raise about pancreatic cancer -- a rare, but
stealthy disease.
Swayze
was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in March 2008. He is survived by
his wife, actress/dancer Lisa Niemi.
"Patrick
Swayze is a tremendous source of inspiration," Gagandeep Singh, MD,
director of hepatobiliary and pancreatic surgery at the John Wayne Cancer Institute at Saint John's Health Center in
Santa Monica, Calif., previously told WebMD.
"He
continued to work despite being diagnosed with pancreatic cancer,” Singh said.
“We don’t want people to close the door when they are diagnosed with pancreatic
cancer.”
Patrick Swayze's Pancreatic Cancer
Although
Swayze's pancreatic cancer was at stage IV when
it was diagnosed in March 2008, he continued working on his television series, The
Beast, completing all 13 episodes without the help of pain medications.
He
opened up about his ordeal in a moving interview with Barbara Walters that
aired in January. "You can bet that I'm going through hell," Swayze
said. "And I've only seen the beginning of it."
Two
days after that interview aired, Swayze checked himself into a hospital with pneumonia, where he recovered
before going home.
What is Pancreatic Cancer?
The
pancreas is a long, flat
gland that lies in the abdomen behind the stomach. It produces enzymes
that aid digestion and certain hormones that help maintain the proper level of blood sugar.
The
American Cancer Society estimates
that in the U.S. in 2009, there will be 42,470 people diagnosed with pancreatic
cancer and 35,420 deaths from pancreatic cancer, making it the nation's fourth
leading cause of cancer death overall.
Unlike
other cancers, there is no screening test for pancreatic cancer. There are also
no symptoms until the cancer has begun to spread, which accounts for the
cancer's dismal survival rate.
Swayze's
cancer had already spread to his liver when it was found.
Because of that, he did not have surgery.
Swayze's
pancreatic cancer treatment included aggressive chemotherapy and an experimental
drug called vatalanib. That drug, which is an angiogenesis inhibitor, blocks
the development of new blood vessels that supply blood to the tumor, which
may curb the cancer's growth and/or stop the cancer from spreading.
Dancing with the Stars
Born
August 18, 1952 in Houston, Texas, Swayze graduated from Waltrip High School in
Houston, and attended San Jacinto College. His father, Jesse Wayne Swayze, died
in 1982.
His
mother, Patsy, owned a dance school in Houston, where Patrick was also a
student and perhaps began developing the moves he nailed in Dirty Dancing
with actress Jennifer Grey. Swayze first danced professionally as Prince
Charming in Disney on Parade. He also played lead Danny Zuko in the
original Broadway production of Grease.
Highlights
of his film career include a Golden Globe nomination for his role as dance
instructor Johnny Castle in Dirty Dancing and a second nod for his
portrayal of the ghost Sam Wheat in Ghost.
Several
months after being diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, Swayze was cleared by his
doctors to resume his work on his television show, The Beast.
Swayze
also made an unscheduled appearance at Stand Up 2 Cancer, a televised
event that was broadcast on network channels ABC, NBC, and CBS on Sept. 5,
2008. Stand Up 2 Cancer aims to take the sting out of cancer by
promoting -- and investing -- in research.
"Tonight
I stand here, another individual living with cancer, who asks that we not wait
any longer and I ask only one thing of you -- please stand up with me,"
Swayze said to the cheering crowd.
Patrick Swayze: Cancer Pioneer
Part
of Swayze’s lasting legacy may be his role in casting attention to experimental
treatments for pancreatic cancer.
"It
absolutely raises the profile of the disease to have someone well known and
well-loved like Patrick Swayze have this be a public diagnosis," Michelle
Duff, director of research and scientific affairs at the Pancreatic Cancer
Action Network (PANCAN) in El Segundo, Calif., told WebMD previously.
"Having his name in People magazine and other celebrity magazines
certainly raises awareness for pancreatic cancer."
In
fact, there was a pronounced spike in calls to PANCAN’s patient liaison program
after Swayze's diagnosis became public, Duff said. The patient liaison program
is a call-in program for patients and families that provides free information
about the cancer.
Singh
said there are some promising treatments in various stages of clinical trials. Researchers are
also looking for genetic markers for early detection. In the future, blood
tests may tell if someone tests positive for certain genes that portend risk of
pancreatic cancer.
“No
single therapy is absolute at the present time," Singh said. "It's
analogous to multiple freeways. If you block off the main freeway, the cancer
will find an alternative freeway and if you block off the alternative freeway,
the cancer will find a surface route,” he says.
Put
another way: "We can knock out several genes, but cancer cells are so
smart that they will find a way of bypassing that route,” Singh said.
For
these reasons, Singh predicts that various therapies that attack several routes
will be the way to treat any cancer, including pancreatic cancer.
"Treatment
vaccines look fairly
promising for a good number of patients who have had the pancreatic tumor
removed and then get a vaccine to prevent the disease from coming back,"
Duff says. "These vaccines basically stimulate
the body's own immune system to fight the cancer and are typically given with chemotherapy."
There
are several new chemotherapy agents in the pipeline in both academic settings
and at pharmaceutical companies, Duff says.
"Some
things are getting closer to prime time, but nothing is quite ready for prime
time," she said.
Duff said she hopes that in
20 years, "we will think of pancreatic cancer as a chronic disease that we
could detect earlier. This way, people will have years and years to live, much
like what we have done in treating
AIDS
and other cancers... The ideal would be to find a cure. That would be an
out-of-the-ballpark homerun."
...
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