Patrick Swayze Returns to the Planet's Dream

[FaustWolf]

Just heard this:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090915/ap_en_mo/us_obit_swayze_9

I'm unfortunately not too familiar with his work outside Ghost, so I'm hardly the best to offer a fitting eulogy. However, I'd hope that the media uses this opportunity to spread cancer awareness, and it is my greatest hope that the US government will one day go hogwild and spend trillions upon trillions of dollars in a final effort to vanquish one of the great scourges of our race. Whereas we're willing to mobilize the nation's resources to counterattack terrorists, there's an odd sense of complacency and fatalism about cancer...Except that sudden pang of terror the individual, usually nameless patient gets upon being diagnosed with it in some form.

Pancreatic cancer, the type that claimed Swayze's life, is one of the more horrific forms. It claims approximately 30,000 Americans every year, killing 95% of its victims within five years. It creeps into the Pancreas silently, producing symptoms only when the tumor impinges on the bile ducts and the victim develops jaundice. One's only hope at that point is usually the Whipple Procedure, which mutilates the victim by removing large parts of his or her digestive tract. For patients over 70 who wouldn't be able to tolerate such a major opertation, Pancreatic Cancer is little more than a death sentence.

My heart really goes to his family. I can imagine the rush to get him into the latest clinical trials, the hope, the despair once it didn't work. Our progression on treating this disease in particular has been abysmal -- the Whipple Procedure was developed in 1898, and it's still the best we've been able to come up with. Cyberknife is promising, but given the continued poor prognosis of Pancreatic Cancer victims, there's apparently a large number of kinks that need worked out, let alone the fact that treating easily targetable tumors is probably not the way to go for most cancers.

From my understanding, Swayze still worked all the way through June 2009 on the show The Beast. Given his condition and the prognosis he was perfectly well aware of, that's something pretty farking worthy of respect.

[ZombieBucky]

who the fuck is patrick swayze.
why do the good die young?

[Truthordeal]

Namu Amida Butsu.

[ZeaLitY]

He was a badass. I don't necessarily mean that in the typical or tropeish way; he just conveyed that feeling of a great, positive, and swift-thinking guy to e. Sort of like Christopher Reeve, he always channeled this feeling of a good guy, even when playing the villain Bodhi in Point Break. So I'm definitely a fan.

[ZaichikArky]

I heard the news on the radio when I was driving back from sightseeing stuff in San Francisco today. RIP Patrick Swayze. I am honestly pretty surprised, considering I read an article a couple months ago with him saying he was making a recovery and was pissed off at people always saying how he was dying. Yeah, pancreatic cancer is quite serious.

My bf's visiting and he said that we must watch this movie he did in the 80s. "Road House", I think it is, in memorial. I have no idea what this movie is about, but since it is from the 80s, I will watch it intensely! (Even if it's an action flick).

[ONSLAUGHT]

How many is that now? I don't care if I'd lose, if 2009 were a person I'd pick a fight with it. Thankfully it's almost over.

Only positive I can think of is one of many beliefs of the end of the world is 2010 by(easy to guess, it's always the same thing)nuclear means. If that's true, then maybe all these people are getting lucky and not having to deal with the crap of going through evaporation?

[FaustWolf]

I'm not sure how to link this with Patrick Swayze in the least, but Onslaught, I'm becoming concerned about the predicted end-of-world dates on the horizon. Not because I believe in them, but because other people do, and they might act irrationally. 2010; May 21, 2011; 2012. If the impending release of Crimson Echoes toward the end of April taught us any social lessons, it's that there are powerful psychological forces at play surrounding expected events.

A few Compendium members literally apparently snapped psychologically as the date approached -- flooding not only the Compendium but other forums with eerie repetitions of PMs, launching vendettas, emailing Square Enix employees. It was eerie. Very, very eerie. And that was just over the release of a fan game. Imagine what Harold Camping's followers are liable to do. You can hear his stuff on your car radio, it's national I think. Possibly international.

True, there a large variety of external factors at play surrounding Crimson Echoes, but the fact remains that the impending release became a focal point for the sudden release of deep-seated tensions, like two plates on the earth's crust suddenly slipping against each other after centuries of energy buildup. I just hope events in the upcoming years don't make us look back on 2009 as "the good old days."

[ONSLAUGHT]

May 21 and 2011 I haven't heard before. 2010 I heard nuclear death(imagine that, the what 25th prediction of that. I doubt it.) 2012 sounds the most legit and honestly, it has barely anything to go on. The Mayan calander ends. Didn't they also think the sun was a god that needed human sacrifice everyday in order to rise once more also? On top of that, the usual nuclear blast that'll wipe us out. And as with all the other nuclear related world endings, absolutely no explanation why. People just randomly think that they'll come to life and say "F*** you all!" and set themselves off. Next one I know after that is probably the oldest, 3000. Satan, the reaper and bad dudes of the same sort will come down from the heavens and smite us all. At least when coming up with that hollocaust, the person got creative.

Staying on topic and I don't think I even think  said this before, RIP Patrick Swayze. Big fan, gonna miss your work.

[GenesisOne]

why do the good die young?

I was just wondering the same thing about Bruce Lee... and of all things, an allergic reaction to headache medicine.

[Boo the Gentleman Caller]

RIP. I'll never forget you in Donnie Darko.   

[Lee]

I've only seen him in Ghost but I definitely remember this face. And I heard about his illness recently. This man put up a hell of a fight against cancer and for that, he deserves my respect. May he rest in peace.

[GenesisOne]

He was awesome in Point Break as the surfer.  Too bad he was a supporting character, and Keanu "No Talent" Reeves had to take the main role.