Patrick Swayze's 'Beast' of a battle

Jan 15, 2009, 11:05 GMT

Patrick Swayze. Despite being diagnosed with stage-four cancer - the most advanced stage of the disease - Patrick has refused to allow poor health to hamper his professional life, much to the amazement of his \'The Beast\' co-stars. EPA/Jacek Turczyk

Patrick Swayze is "alive and plans on continuing to stay that way".

The 56-year-old 'Dirty Dancing' star - who was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in 2008 - was hospitalised with pneumonia last week but insists he is on the road to recovery.

He said: "I am alive and plan on continuing to stay that way. I am almost in the clear."

Patrick was forced to cancel public appearances at the TCA winter session to promote his new TV show 'The Beast' when he fell ill, and has revealed he knew something was seriously wrong with him when he developed a persistent cough.

He explained to People magazine: "It made me suspect there was a possibility of some kind of infection. I wanted to jump on it before it turned into a problem. As soon as I got home, I called my doctor and then went straight to the hospital and was immediately put on antibiotics."

Despite being diagnosed with stage-four cancer - the most advanced stage of the disease - Patrick has refused to allow poor health to hamper his professional life, much to the amazement of his 'The Beast' co-stars.

Consulting producer Michael Dinner said: "He didn't want anyone to pamper him when we were making the show. The only time he would get upset is if he felt the scripts were making it easy on him."

Patrick recently renewed his wedding vows with wife of 33 years Lisa, and she is equally as glowing about his determination to beat the disease.

Lisa, 52, said: "I admire everything imaginable about Patrick, especially his courage, strength and humour."

Patrick recently admitted fighting cancer is like "going through hell", adding the disease makes him angry and scared.

He said: "There's a lot of fear here. 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."