patrick swayze: certified badass

my mom called me last night to remind me that barbara walters was doing an hour-long interview with certified badass patrick swayze. what makes patrick swayze a badass, aside from awesome movies like roadhouse and point break?  the fact that the dude has one of the worst forms of cancer ever and he just keeps being awesome.  some choice info gleaned from the interview:

• swayze still smokes.  “when it looks like I may live longer than five minutes? i’ll drop cigarettes like a hot potato.”
• most people die within a few months of diagnosis of stage 4 pancreatic cancer.  swayze is almost a year out and still kicking ass.
• even though he underwent (and continues to) extreme chemotherapy, swayze still has his hair.  chemo don’t fuck around with swayze.
• swayze works 12-hour days on his new show the beast even though he’s, you know, FIGHTING PANCREATIC CANCER.
• swayze refuses to take painkillers, obviously, because pain don’t hurt.
• he doesn’t have guardian angels. he has “guardian warriors.”

you can check out a transcript and a few video clips over at abc news. i wish mr. swayze all the best and hope he continues to beat the odds and tear the throat out of pancreatic cancer. good on ya, sir.

-srd