Patick Swayze has cancer

[momwolf]

How sad .He has pancreatic cancer.I love his movies, to bad.Hope he can recover from this one.

[sarahzknitty]

That's sad. I was also saddened to hear Monday that Jeff Healey passed away from cancer.

[Doodknitwit]

to their family

[brendajos]

I have had mixed feelings on this all day. I am very sad just because, even though i haven't liked his movies in a long time, i have always thought he was enjoyable. (I am also a little mad that this may trigger a need to watch Dirty Dancing again for about the 12037th time! ) Pancreatic cancer is an ugly ugly ugly way to go (though that isn't to say any other cancer is more pleasant really.) and it gets very little funding and attention. I have a friend who has been fighting it for quite sometime and she is doing it with more grace than I could ever imagine fighting it myself. I can't help but think and hope that this will bring more attention to pancreatic cancer because there have been almost no advancements in the fight against it in a VERY long time. People seem to not understand that the research and fight against things like colon cancer, breast cancer, prostate cancer, lukemia, etc really have nothing to do with the fight against other kinds of cancer. The different types are EXTREMELY different and a cure for breast cancer would likely not be helpful for colon cancer, etc.

They would certainly help give hope and possibilities of new places to look but in general they are just too different to be helpful. Breast cancer and colon cancer seem to get all the attention, and it is warranted, but the other forms of cancer do tend to take a back seat and because they are so poorly funded they aren't able to do the research needed. I hope that there can be good that comes from someone like Patrick Swayze having to fight this fight and that some new research can come from this.

(i didn't mean to ramble so long but this has been on my mind for a while and I sadly had to look at this like a certain amount of good news today. )

[Jan in CA]

My mom died from pancreatic cancer when I was 20. I'm not sure it's worse than any other cancer except that it's often fatal and goes quickly. She lasted 3 mos after diagnosis.

I heard about Swayze tonite and hope that he can fight it successfully. Technology has improved since 1973 so I'll be thinking good thoughts for him and his family.

[Spikey]

Unfortunately, pancreatic cancer does not usually cause symptoms until it is too extensive to treat with surgery. That is why the outcome is usually so poor.

Unlike many other cancer types for which there are good screening tests (like mammograms, PSA and Pap tests, or colonoscopy), there is no screening test yet that has proven helpful.

While it is true that cancers are different, there are some striking similarities and we can hold out hope that a treatment for those that get more attention will benefit the less common cancers, too.

However, like many other cancers, pancreatic cancer is strongly associated with smoking (particularly in those with a family history of cancer).

Just one more reason for all of us not to smoke, and to encourage our loved ones to quit as soon as possible.

Jan, I am so sorry for the loss of your Mom at such a young age.

[Jan in CA]

Thanks, Spikey!