Widow's memoir details Patrick Swayze's last days
(CBS) The last days of actor Patrick Swayze, who died of pancreatic cancer on Sept. 14, 2009, are chronicled in "Worth Fighting For," a memoir by his widow, Lisa Niemi Swayze, which went on sale Tuesday.
The book also includes a controversial photo of the "Dirty Dancing" actor, showing him bald and skeletal as he lay dying.
In published reports, Swayze said she had to think long and hard before using the photo. She told "Entertainment Tonight" that "being sick wasn't always the most dignified-looking thing and Patrick was a man with a lot of pride." In the end, the picture was published, she said, because it showed the truth.
In the book, published by Atria, Swayze, an actress and dancer, tells of her husband's life after his 2008 diagnosis, which led them to renew their wedding vows. She describes searches for treatments, and the effort to live a normal life amid all the media attention focused on the couple.
The two met at dance school when he was 18 and she was 15 and were married on June 12, 1975.
Patrick Swayze gained fame as dance instructor Johnny Castle in 1987's "Dirty Dancing." His biggest movie role was as Demi Moore's dead husband in the 1990 romance "Ghost." Swayze continued his movie and TV work until his death. Just months before he died, he was at work on the cable TV series "The Beast."