11 Quick Questions for Lisa Swayze

How can it be all these years later that there’s no cure yet?

Pancreatic cancer is a very tough disease to treat. It isn’t, like, “We got this, and it works for everyone.” It’s very individualized, which is why pancreatic cancer is actually now heavily involved in targeted therapy. You look at what your body makeup is, and what your chances are with what particular kind of drug, so you don’t waste time. I think that’s a big reason why our numbers have improved some.

You’ve written about the courage Patrick had as he battled illness. Is there a special memory of that courage that still stands out?

We were in Chicago, and he was shooting the TV series The Beast. He was working five days a week, 16 hours a day, and getting chemotherapy on the weekends. As we say in Texas: “He was kicking ass and taking names.” He was due for one of these landmark scans you do at certain times to see where you’re at. It can be a very frightening experience. We’re in that dark room, looking at his scan, and we’re seeing improvement. The look on his face — he looked across the room at me, and I met his eyes, and without words — it was like this kind of beautiful, beautiful hope. His eyes said to me, “It looks like I’m going to be around for a little while longer.” Talk about a happy moment. I am the one who’s been left behind here, who knows just how precious that is to everybody else that’s facing this disease.

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Is there something we didn’t know about Patrick you want to share with us?

He could do a great Donald Duck [impression]. I’m sure people who have followed Patrick know he could be very irreverent and spontaneous. He was particularly funny when he cursed in Donald Duck. He was kind of a naughty boy on occasion, which made him unpredictable and fun.

You’re remarried now to jeweler Albert DePrisco. Is marriage different when you are older?

There are a lot of things about love that you struggle with when you are younger. When you get older, you have been there, done that, got the merit badge. I’m not going to go down that road anymore, especially when you lose someone so tragically that you wish that everything had been perfect — and nothing ever is. You learn from some of the mistakes you wish you hadn’t made.

Are you still piloting planes?  

I am. I sold my plane about two, three years ago, and I really missed it. So I just started flying again. I love it. I thought maybe I wouldn’t. I really hated selling it, but my plane was getting old and it was just getting too expensive. When I first got back into flying, I was driving to the airport [and thinking], What am I doing? I shouldn’t be doing this. The third flight, I went up, and I’m, like, Oh, I’m home. I felt such a sense of calm and joy come over me. I was, like, This is why I fly.

And horses are still a big part of your life?

Yes. I have some out in the pasture there now. Hopefully — I’ve been very busy — I’ll carve out some time so I can actually ride them instead of just pet them. Right now, they’re very large and beautiful pets.

What keeps you too busy to ride your horses?

I’m working on my first piece of fiction—a book. It was inspired by Patrick. I was driving to my yoga class before the pandemic, and I found a CD I hadn’t listened to in a long time. And I went, “Oh my gosh. I love this song.” It was Emmylou Harris playing The Wayfaring Stranger. I really got it, at that moment, that Patrick was just on the other side, and he was there for me — how we feel that grief and find a reason to go on and find comfort in that. It was during the yoga class that this book came into my mind.