Patrick Swayze and wife Lisa Niemi on December 13, 2006. Photo: Getty Images
"I found for myself that when I actually got to that point, I said, `No, no, no.' It wasn't the same at all. The actual loss is an animal of its own," she said at a panel discussion on grief at the Women's Conference in Long Beach, California.
Niemi was joined by California first lady Maria Shriver, actress and activist Susan Saint James and Elizabeth Edwards, the wife of former presidential candidate John Edwards, who has herself battled cancer.
"Cancer may have taken Patrick, but it didn't beat him," Niemi said. The Dirty Dancing star died on September 14 at the age of 57.
Niemi will talk more about loving and losing her husband of 34 years to pancreatic cancer, in an interview with chat show host Oprah Winfrey due to air on Friday. [rc]
Copyright © 2009. Fairfax Digital
October 29, 2009
USA: Cancer didn't beat Swayze, his wife says
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SYDNEY, NSW, Australia / The Sydney Morning Herald / People / Reuters / October 29, 2009
Dirty Dancing star Patrick Swayze's widow, Lisa Niemi, said that even though her husband's battle with cancer lasted nearly two years, that did not prepare her for his death in September.
"This is all new to me, and I thought during the 22 months of my husband's illness that it gave me all this time to get used to the idea of losing him," Niemi said, in her first public appearance since Swayze's death.
Patrick Swayze and wife Lisa Niemi on December 13, 2006. Photo: Getty Images
"I found for myself that when I actually got to that point, I said, `No, no, no.' It wasn't the same at all. The actual loss is an animal of its own," she said at a panel discussion on grief at the Women's Conference in Long Beach, California.
Niemi was joined by California first lady Maria Shriver, actress and activist Susan Saint James and Elizabeth Edwards, the wife of former presidential candidate John Edwards, who has herself battled cancer.
"Cancer may have taken Patrick, but it didn't beat him," Niemi said. The Dirty Dancing star died on September 14 at the age of 57.
Niemi will talk more about loving and losing her husband of 34 years to pancreatic cancer, in an interview with chat show host Oprah Winfrey due to air on Friday. [rc]
Copyright © 2009. Fairfax Digital
Patrick Swayze and wife Lisa Niemi on December 13, 2006. Photo: Getty Images
"I found for myself that when I actually got to that point, I said, `No, no, no.' It wasn't the same at all. The actual loss is an animal of its own," she said at a panel discussion on grief at the Women's Conference in Long Beach, California.
Niemi was joined by California first lady Maria Shriver, actress and activist Susan Saint James and Elizabeth Edwards, the wife of former presidential candidate John Edwards, who has herself battled cancer.
"Cancer may have taken Patrick, but it didn't beat him," Niemi said. The Dirty Dancing star died on September 14 at the age of 57.
Niemi will talk more about loving and losing her husband of 34 years to pancreatic cancer, in an interview with chat show host Oprah Winfrey due to air on Friday. [rc]
Copyright © 2009. Fairfax Digital
