LOS ANGELES -- Actor and dancer Patrick Swayze, star of such hit films as Dirty Dancing and Ghost, has been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer but is responding well to treatment, his publicist said yesterday.
The 55-year-old actor was working during his treatments, publicist Annett Wolf said, dismissing some media reports that portrayed him in grave condition with only weeks to live.
"Patrick has a very limited amount of disease and he appears to be responding well to treatment," Swayze's physician, Dr. George Fisher, said in a written statement issued by Wolf.
"All of the reports stating the timeframe of his prognosis and his physical side effects are absolutely untrue," Fisher said . "We are considerably more optimistic."
'SUPPORT'
Wolf said Swayze deeply appreciated the "outpouring of support and concern" he has received from the public. Earlier yesterday, the National Enquirer reported that Swayze had "five weeks to live" and his cancer had "spread to other organs."
Pancreatic cancer has the highest fatality rate of all cancers, according to the Pancreatic Cancer Action Network. The average life expectancy after diagnosis is between three and six months and only 5% of those diagnosed live beyond five years.
Swayze is best known for his role as dance instructor Johnny Castle opposite Jennifer Grey's infatuated teenager Frances "Baby" Houseman in the 1987 movie musical Dirty Dancing.
Swayze went on to star alongside Demi Moore in the 1990 tear-jerker romance Ghost, also a huge box-office hit nominated for an Academy Award for best picture