THERE can be few more disturbing physical changes encountered by cancer sufferers than those of Hollywood actor Patrick Swayze shortly before his death.

Looking gaunt, old and almost unrecognisable from the young actor who made his name as the sexy, hip-swinging dance teacher in the iconic film Dirty Dancing, it was clear this was the fight of his life.

Several images of him in a new book about his battle with pancreatic cancer paint a bleak picture.

Yet it’s his widow, Lisa Niemi Swayze, to whom he was married for 34 years, who decided to include those pictures to illustrate her book Worth Fighting For – a memoir charting her husband’s illness from initial diagnosis to tragic end, encompassing his periods of dramatic weight loss and the couple’s attempts to fend off the paparazzi.

The pictures were included because she wanted to tell the truth, to provide some guidance for families and carers going through similar situations.

Today, the attractive, blonde 55-year-old former dancer, actress and director reflects that she wanted to explain the 21 months he suffered the disease from a caregiver’s point of view, in order to give support to others in the same situation.

“If you can’t do something constructive from a terrible situation then you’re dishonouring the experience. Some people write a song, others bring an acting part to it, well, I wrote a book.”

When Swayze was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer early in 2008 following symptoms of indigestion and jaundice, it was already at an advanced stage.

When they received the diagnosis, he said: “I’m a dead man.” But it didn’t stop him embarking on a number of different treatments and it made him live his life to an even greater degree.

During those months, he and Lisa renewed their wedding vows, went flying together (they were both pilots), saw the birth of a number of foals on their New Mexico ranch, and he even made a TV series, The Beast, in which he played a macho cop with plenty of fight scenes.