Patrick Swayze’s Wife Speaks Out On Last Moments Of Late Actor’s Life

Aug 02, 2022 by apost team

It's hard to believe that legendary Patrick Swayze passed away over 12 years ago. A star even before “Dirty Dancing” and “Ghost,” Swayze will forever be in our hearts. Unfortunately, Swayze died on Sept. 14, 2009, after a long battle with pancreatic cancer. His faithful wife of 34 years, Lisa Niemi, was by his side the entire time.

Niemi penned a memoir in 2012 titled “Worth Fighting For.” Daily Mail cited Niemi's story where she talked about Swayze's last words before he slipped slowly into a coma. "My last words to Patrick? ‘I love you,’ and those were his last words to me. After I brought him home, things went very fast," Niemi wrote. 

It was a Monday morning when Niemi woke up to hear him taking tiny gasps of air. She said that there was an almost childlike feeling about what was happening. She knew that it was his time to go. He slipped away that very day.

A documentary aired 10 years after the actor's untimely demise, called “I Am Patrick Swayze,” and featured Niemi. In the documentary, she talked about her time with Buddy – her nickname for her deceased husband. She talked about how she walked out on the stage so long ago and looked into his eyes. It was true love from the start.

The couple met when they were teenagers and got married in 1975. The lovebirds were together until Swayze died in 2009. Niemi talked to Entertainment Tonight about how awful it was to watch her husband fight cancer.

"It's the worst thing in the world to go through, you spend every day fighting for that person's life. I know that he spent every day fighting for his own ... He survived 22 months, which was miraculous with the diagnosis that he received."

The documentary wasn’t just about his triumphs; it also took a close look at his struggles with alcohol abuse. Niemi said that he would be fun and bubbly until he was by himself. He would then crash, making their relationship strained and difficult. However, even though there were many challenges to overcome in their marriage, Niemi still loved him.

According to Niemi, Swayze took on a role working on the show “The Beast” while he was fighting pancreatic cancer. She said Swayze was transformed during the role. While he had been spending a lot of time in bed, being in Chicago gave him an amazing burst of energy.

"His enormous burst of energy floored me. He was like his old take-charge self, going non-stop. I got Patrick back. He even showed occasional flashes of ‘star’ behavior, the stuff that would always drive me crazy, like making last-minute, arbitrary demands and suddenly being the unquestionable authority on ... just everything in the universe," Niemi wrote in her memoir.

She also mentioned that Swayze never wanted his job to be easier just because he was diagnosed with cancer. Even when his character was supposed to jump over a wall, he insisted on doing it instead of the stuntman that was hired. Niemi insists that working on the set of the show made Swayze feel stronger and happier despite his diagnosis.

In just a little under two years after the initial diagnosis, Swayze succumbed to pancreatic cancer on Sept. 14, 2009. “I Am Patrick Swayze” came out on Aug. 18, 2019, which was also the late actor's birthday. Even 10 years later, fans of the handsome star were still eager to learn everything that they could about him.

apost.com

How do you feel about Patrick Swayze? Are you a fan of his work? Let us know, and feel free to pass this along to your loved ones.