Patrick Swayze's battle with pancreatic cancer

Mar 5 2008

It has been revealed that Hollywood actor Patrick Swayze is being treated for pancreatic cancer.

News of the 'Dirty Dancing', stars plight has hit the press along with some pretty awful headlines implying that the actor has only has five weeks to live.

The headlines have been termed untrue by his doctors who say the 55-year-old actor is responding well to radical chemotherapy treatment and is well enough to continue working.

His doctor at Stanford University hospital in Palo Alto, California, Dr. George Fisher says Swayze has a very limited amount of the disease and earlier reports that Swayze had a matter of weeks to live were exaggerated.

Dr. Fisher says reports stating the timeframe of his prognosis and his physical side effects are absolutely untrue and are considerably more optimistic.

Dr. Fisher says Mr Swayze is continuing his normal schedule during this time, which includes working on upcoming projects.

Swayze who also starred in Ghost and Point Break, is married to actress Lisa Niemi.

Because pancreatic cancer usually causes no symptoms early on, by the time it is diagnosed it is in an advanced stage and less than 5% of victims survive beyond 5 years.

Pancreatic cancer has the highest fatality rate of all cancers and is the one of the biggest cancer killers in both men and women.

Prevention involves avoiding risk factors such as smoking and heavy alcohol consumption.