patrick swayzePatrick Swayze has spoken about his year-long cancer battle, saying it’s “hell” but he will keep fighting.

The Ghost star was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer at the start of 2008 after a series of gastrointestinal problems in late 2007.

In an interview set to air in the US tonight, he explained: “I tried to have champagne [at New Year 2008], and it would be like pouring acid on an open wound and then my indigestion issues got gigantic and constant, and then I started thinking, ‘I’m getting skinny’.

“I dropped about 20 pounds in the blink of an eye. And then when you see it in the mirror, when all of a sudden, you pull your eyes down and the bottom of your eyes go yellow and jaundice sets in - then you know something’s wrong.”

Medical tests first revealed a malignant tumour in his abdomen and a mass on his liver - then doctors diagnosed he was suffering from Stage 4 pancreatic cancer, which is usually fatal within six months and because the cancer had already spread, surgery was not an option: just intensive chemotherapy and an experimental drug called Vatalanib.

Patrick responded well to the treatment and returned to work, filming new TV series The Beast for five months late last year, but he added that he’s not out of the woods just yet: “There’s a lot of fear here. There’s a lot of stuff going on. Yeah, I’m scared. Yeah, I’m angry. Yeah, I’m [asking] why me. Yeah, I’m all this stuff.

“You can bet that I’m going through hell. And I’ve only seen the beginning of it.”

But he’s going to keep fighting: “I don’t know what’s on the other side. It tests everything I believe in and that here is something unique in all of us that does not, does not die.”

“What winning is to me is not giving up, is no matter what’s thrown at me. I can take it, and I can keep going.”