Updated December 29, 2014.

Best known for his roles in Ghost and Dirty Dancing, Patrick Swayze proved himself a true fighter until the end by working while undergoing intense chemotherapy to treat pancreatic cancer. Swayze's cancer treatment regimen included an experimental drug called vatalanib, a drug that inhibits the enzyme activity that promotes cancer cell growth and proliferation. The drug has yet to be approved for pancreatic cancer and clinical trials are ongoing.

Swayze was determined not let cancer beat or change him - he even continued his lifelong habit of smoking during treatment (something doctors definitely do not recommend). In retrospect, we can honestly say that he gave the fight all he could - no one can argue that. Somehow, he managed to outwit a disease that usually is fatal just months after a diagnosis. To live almost two years after being diagnosed with pancreatic cancer is incredible.