Always a Hero
- The Road House reboot starring Jake Gyllenhaal based off of the 1989 cult original film with Patrick Swayze may be drumming up some mixed feelings in the media, but let’s not take away from the beloved actor’s legacy.
- The beloved actor, who also starred in iconic films such as Dirty Dancing, Ghost and Point Break, died in 2009 from stage 4 pancreatic cancer, just one year after his diagnosis.
- Getting an early-stage pancreatic cancer is rare. Fortunately however, progress has been made in recent years with pancreatic cancer treatments.
- Parents, siblings and children of someone with pancreatic cancer are considered high risk for developing the disease because they are first-degree relatives of the individual, so it’s important to discuss your medical history with your doctor and always report any lingering symptoms that you may notice.
Negative opinion or not, it should still be considered an homage to the late star, who rose to fame in Dirty Dancing (1987) with Jennifer Grey, and kept hearts swooning in Ghost (1990) with Demi Moore.
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“No one asked for this…but who am I kidding, I’m still gonna see this when it comes out,” one of Gyllenhaal’s followers wrote on his Instagram post promoting the Amazon film.
Evidently a Swayze fan, Gyllenhaal, who wore a vintage-style Patrick Swayze tee shirt to celebrate his 43rd birthday last month, has taken the project seriously, worked hard to bulk up for the role to achieve the lean cut of his iconic predecessor.
Patrick Swayze’s Pancreatic Cancer Diagnosis
Patrick Swayze was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in March 2008. The athletic dancer began experiencing symptoms in December 2007, but he didn’t realize it at the time as he thought he was just having digestive issues.
In his 2009 memoir, The Time of My Life, Swayze wrote about how he thought the bloated feeling would just go away on its own.
“I had been having some digestive trouble,” Swayze 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.”
Patrick’s battle with cancer brought out the side of him “he always wanted to be,” which was a “truly courageous, humble, loving, determined [and] strong” person,” his widow Lisa told Good Morning America.
Understanding Pancreatic Cancer
Pancreatic cancer is an aggressive disease that is difficult to detect because symptoms including jaundice and weight loss typically present at a later stage in the cancer’s development. In a previous interview with SurvivorNet, Dr. Anirban Maitra, the co-leader of the Pancreatic Cancer Moon Shot at MD Anderson Cancer Center, explains what he typically sees when patients develop this disease.
“Because the pancreas is inside the abdomen often doesn’t have symptoms that would tell you that something is wrong with your pancreas,” he says. “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.”
Detecting Pancreatic Cancer Early Is Crucial
Parents, siblings and children of someone with pancreatic cancer are considered high risk for developing the disease because they are first-degree relatives of the individual. PGVs (pathogenic germline variants) are changes in reproductive cells (sperm or egg) that become part of the DNA in the cells of the offspring.
Germline variants are passed from parents to their children, and are associated with increased risks of several cancer types, including pancreatic, ovarian and breast cancers. Germline mutations in ATM, BRCA1, BRCA2, CKDN2A, PALB2, PRSS1, STK11 and TP53 are associated with increased risk of pancreatic cancer.
Jessica Everett, a genetic counselor at NYU Langone’s Perlmutter Cancer Center, encourages people in this category to look into possible screening options.
“If you’re concerned about pancreatic cancer in your family, start by talking to a genetic counselor to learn more about your risk and what options you have,” Everett advised to SurvivorNet.
Progress in Pancreatic Cancer
Fortunately, in recent years, progress has been made in the world of pancreatic cancer treatments. One clinical trial recently found that the drug Onivyde, in combination with chemotherapy in the so-called Nalirifox regimen, helped patients live longer compared with chemotherapy in previously untreated patients with metastatic pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (mPDAC), according to Ipsen, the pharmacautical company that bought the drug.
RELATED: 13% Uptick in Five-Year Survival Rate For Pancreatic Cancer
“The prognosis for people diagnosed with pancreatic cancer is extremely poor and we plan to submit these new findings to the regulatory authority as, if approved, we believe this regimen could offer up an important new treatment option for people living with an aggressive and hard-to-treat cancer,” Howard Mayer, Executive Vice President and Head of Research and Development for Ipsen, said. “We thank the patients who participated in the study, their families and their healthcare teams.”
Watch: Dr. Alysson Ocean on why pancreatic cancer is so hard to treat
The drug is currently approved in the U.S., Europe, and Asia in combination with fluorouracil and leucovorin as a treatment for mPDAC after disease progression and following gemcitabine-based therapy.
Another example of progress being made comes in the form of immunotherapy, a type of cancer treatment that uses your own immune system to fight cancer.
“Up until now, immunotherapy hasn’t had a big role,” Dr. Allyson Ocean, a medical oncologist at Weill Cornell Medical Center, previously told SurvivorNet.
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