Patrick Swayze admits cancer has made his life a living hell

New York, January 7: Hollywood actor Patrick Swayze, who has pancreatic cancer, has admitted for the first time that he is scared, angry and "going through hell" since he has been diagnosed with the condition last year.

In his first television interview since being diagnosed with one of the most deadly forms of cancer, the "Dirty Dancing" star told TV interviewer Barbara Walters that the disease has turned his life into hell, and that he may only have two years to live.

"There's a lot of fear here," the 56-year-old star of "The Outsiders," "Dirty Dancing" and "Ghost" tells Walters in the interview to be aired Wednesday night on ABC. "There's a lot of stuff going on. Yeah, I'm scared. Yeah, I'm angry. Yeah, I'm [asking] why me. Yeah, I'm all this stuff. You can bet that I'm going through hell. And I've only seen the beginning of it."

Swayze, who went public with his diagnosis last March, tells Walters about the first time he felt ill, celebrating New Year's Eve at the end of 2007 with wife Lisa Niemi.

"I tried to have champagne, and it would be like pouring acid, you know, on an open wound," he says. "I dropped about 20 pounds in the blink of an eye. And then when you see it in the mirror, you pull your eyes down and the bottom of your eyes go yellow and jaundice sets in – then you know something's wrong."

Despite his near-death condition, Swayze is still looking ahead. "I keep dreaming of a future, a future with a long and healthy life," he says, "not lived in the shadow of cancer, but in the light."

Swayze was diagnosed with an aggressive form of pancreatic cancer in January last year, and is undergoing treatment for the disease. In December, rumors ran rampant that Swayze’s cancer has spread and that he is on the verge of dying.

The reports claimed that Swayze’s cancer has spread to his liver and, even more morbidly, that he has only few days to live.

But the actor/dancer at the time refuted all those tabloid claims saying that he is not near death, instead he is winning his battle against pancreatic cancer.

Pancreatic cancer is the most fatal but unfortunately, the least acknowledged of all cancers. Research on the disease receives far less funding and attention from the National Cancer Institute as compared to other cancers.

According to the American Cancer Society’s estimates, nearly 35,000 citizens die of pancreatic cancer in the U.S. every year. The disease is said to have a very low survival rate of just 5 percent. The seriousness of pancreatic cancer is due to its hard detection, easy metastasis and resistance to corrective therapies.

The Texas-born Swayze has starred in dozens of film, TV and stage roles, and is best known for his romantic roles in the surprise movie hits Dirty Dancing (1987) and Ghost (1990). His other hits include ‘Point Break’ and ‘Road House’.