Published Nov 24, 2020

Jennifer Grey, 60, Says “There Is No Replacing” Patrick Swayze In Dirty Dancing Sequel; Swayze Passed 11 Years Ago From Cancer

Jennifer Grey is executive producing the 'Dirty Dancing' sequel, and says that Patrick Swayze, who died of pancreatic cancer in 2009, helped make the original film "magic."

Details
Comments

Anne McCarthy

Patrick Swayze & 'Dirty Dancing 2'

Patrick Swayze’s Dirty Dancing co-star Jennifer Grey, 60, says that the upcoming sequel won’t be the same without him.
Swayze was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in March 2008, and passed away in September 2009, at age 57.
Pancreatic cancer is an aggressive disease, so early detection is key.

Actor Patrick Swayze was inarguably one of a kind – and former co-star Jennifer Grey agrees. A hotly anticipated sequel is in the works for Dirty Dancing, 33 years after the original film hit theaters. The follow-up story to this classic film will be missing Swayze, who died of pancreatic cancer in 2009 at age 57.

Grey said in an interview with People they wouldn’t attempt to replicate anything from the original. (She is set to executive produce the film.) “All I can say is there is no replacing anyone who’s passed—you never try to repeat anything that’s magic like that,” said Grey. “You just go for something different.”

Patrick’s Pancreatic Cancer

Patrick Swayze was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in March 2008. He later passed away at the too-young age of 57, after fighting the disease for over a year. Swayze died in September 2009.

Swayze first began experiencing symptoms of pancreatic cancer in December 2007, but he didn’t realize it at the time – he thought he was just having digestive issues. Swayze wrote in his 2009 memoir, The Time of My Life, how he thought the bloated feeling would just go away on its own.

“I had been having some digestive trouble,” he wrote. “Mostly acid reflux and a kind of bloated feeling, for a few weeks. I’ve had a sensitive stomach my whole life, so I hadn’t thought much of it, but lately I just couldn’t shake the constant discomfort.” For many, the symptoms of pancreatic cancer don’t present until a later stage.

Challenges to Screening for Pancreatic Cancer

Detection of this Disease

Early detection for pancreatic cancer is critically important because this disease can be aggressive. In an earlier interview with SurvivorNet, Dr. Anirban Maitra, Co-Leader of the Pancreatic Cancer Moon Shot at MD Anderson Cancer Center, said, “By the time individuals walk into the clinic with symptoms like jaundice, weight loss, back pain, or diabetes, it’s often very late in the stage of the disease. Each year in the United States, about 53,000 patients get pancreatic cancer. And unfortunately, most will die from this disease within a few months to a year or so from the diagnosis.”

Dr. Maitra said surgery is typically only a treatment option in the early stages of the disease. “And the reason for that is that most individuals, about 80%, will actually present with what we called advanced disease, which means that the cancer has either spread beyond the pancreas or into other organs like the liver, and so you cannot take it out with surgeries. Only about 20% of individuals will actually be candidates for surgery.”

Detecting Pancreatic Cancer Early Is Crucial

Learn more about SurvivorNet's rigorous medical review process.