Patrick Swayze has pancreatic cancer

via Telegraph

Patrick Swayze has been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, which is notoriously difficult to treat.

One of the reasons for the difficulty in treatment is that a sufferer may only experience symptoms very late. It sometimes only diagnosed in the late stages.

As a result, the survival rate is one of the lowest of all cancers and just 4.4 per cent of women and 4.2 per cent of men are still alive five years after the initial diagnosis.

The first signs of the illness vary depending on the size of the tumour and where on the pancreas it is located but often a person may experience pain in their back or lower abdomen.

This many become worse on eating and they may also suffer from nausea, vomiting and weight loss.

As the disease becomes more advanced, a person may get jaundice with their skin and whites of their eyes becoming yellow.

If caught early enough, the tumour can be removed by surgery and a combination of chemotherapy and radiotherapy can also reduce its size and control the pain for the patient.

Scientists have not yet identified the exact cause of pancreatic cancer but certain factors such as smoking, a fatty diet, increased alcohol consumption and diabetes are known to increase the risk.

:( Geez, hope he's the 4.2% that hangs in.

This is sad news. I enjoyed his films. I loved Ghost, and I like Dirty Dancing. I also really get a kick out of his Chippendale's sketch on Saturday Night Live with Chris Farley.

My dad died of pancreatic cancer in 2000. It is really a terrible disease in it's later stages. I hope that he is able to overcome this.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by JKKDARK

Scientists have not yet identified the exact cause of pancreatic cancer but certain factors such as smoking, a fatty diet, increased alcohol consumption and diabetes are known to increase the risk.

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The author makes it sound like it's Swayze's fault that he has cancer. - I am sure there are people who were heavy smokers, lived entirely of an unhealthy fatty diet, and drank a lot alcohol but never ever got cancer but probably got 150 years old before they died.

Cancer seems to be something very random; and they always seem to 'forget' to mention that it's likely that cancer can be caused by environmental pollution too - Living near a nuclear plant or breathing your cities' exhaust fumes isn't a healthy thing.