Actor Partick Swayze’s widow, Lisa Niemi Swayze, opened up about her late husband.
On Friday, Lisa Niemi Swayze, 66, appeared on the “Today” show and spoke about her “hero” and how she stood by his side during his battle with pancreatic cancer.
“We called ourselves ‘realistic optimists’ because he knew about pancreatic cancer a lot more than me when he was first diagnosed and when he heard, he turned to me, and he said, ‘I’m a dead man,'” she revealed.
She shared how they both “held out the best hope” for his survival and they “were gonna fight the best fight” in hopes “he would make it through.”
Swayze’s widow referred to the “Dirty Dancing” star’s 22-month battle as a “tough fight.”
However, she emphasized, “Every moment that he was on this planet for those 22 months was worth every bit of fight.”
Lisa Niemi Swayze added, “Cancer took Patrick, but it didn’t beat him.”
The actor died in 2009 at the age of 57. They were married for 34 years, per Fox News.
Lisa Niemi Swayze remarried Albert DePrisco in 2014. She spoke about finding love after loss.
“Just because somebody’s gone doesn’t end your relationship with them. We spent 34 years together, and that’s always going to be a part of my life and who I am,” she said.
Despite finding love again, she said her love for him still remains.
“When I fell in love with Albert (DePrisco), I was talking to one of my other widow friends and I said, ‘I love Albert, but it has nothing to do with my love for Patrick. It doesn’t affect that at all,'” she explained.
She added, “Love doesn’t stop just because someone has left this Earth. It’s still there.”
She also said that she still carries him with her daily.
“His voice is in my head. He comments on what I’m doing. When I need a bolstering up or something’s going on, I can ask him in my head, and I hear exactly what he’s saying, which is generally, ‘Come on, girl, get real,’” she said.