The National Inquirer and other tabloids have been reporting that Patrick Swayze is near the end of his battle with cancer, and hence, his life. 

Patrick Swayze is not amused. 

“It’s amazing to me that the tabloids such as the National Enquirer print such negative stories about me and my health when there are so many positive things going on in my life right now. I’ve started a new chemotherapy and, once again, I am one of the lucky ones with pancreatic cancer that is responding well to the treatment.

There is such a thing as “living with” cancer, which is a sort of middle way between being cured from it and dying from it.  Maybe that’s what Swayze is doing.  He’s still working on his A&E show, he’s writing a book, and he and his wife just got a new puppy.  Doesn’t sound like a man who expects to die any time soon. 

But, I can’t help thinking that Paul Newman made the same sorts of statements in the months before he died.  The tabloids called that one exactly right.