Patrick Swayze's Wife Lisa Niemi Reveals the 'Dirty Dancing' Star's Last Words Before His Death

DENISE TRUSCELLO

• Patrick Swayze was married to his wife, Lisa Niemi, for 34 years before he died on September 14, 2009 after living with pancreatic cancer.
• In her 2011 memoir, Worth Fighting For, Lisa revealed the last words she exchanged with Patrick before the Dirty Dancing star's untimely death.
• Ten years after his death, Paramount Network is airing a new documentary I Am Patrick Swayze on Sunday at 9 p.m. ET. Lisa is one of many who will be a part of the film.

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It's hard to imagine that September 14 will mark 10 years since the world said goodbye to renowned actor Patrick Swayze. The Dirty Dancing and Ghost star died in 2009 after battling pancreatic cancerfor 20 months.

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While fighting the disease, his wife of 34 years, Lisa Niemi, was by his side. As she penned in her 2011 memoir, Worth Fighting For, the actor spoke his final words to her Friday evening and died the following Monday morning.

"My last words to Patrick? ‘I love you,’ and those were his last words to me. After I brought him home, things went very fast," she wrote. Lisa went on to say that Patrick slipped into a full coma soon after.

Patrick and Lisa in Los Angeles, California in October 1979.

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"I cherished our time alone, holding his hand, listening to music, sleeping with my arm around him, my head on his shoulder, wordlessly."

She went on: "In the quiet of Monday morning, September 14, I looked at his face and listened to the tiny sips of air he was taking. There was something delicate, childlike about it. I knew it was time."

Recently, Lisa spoke to Entertainment Tonight about what life was like with her late husband. The two met as teens when Lisa was taking dance lessons from Patrick's mother, Patsy. As Lisa puts it, "the first time Buddy [her nickname for Patrick] and I danced together was at a school exhibition. We walked out on stage. I looked in his eyes, it was like everything came alive."

Although her beloved husband is gone physically, Lisa says he's still very much with her.

"When you lose someone, you never stop loving them and it's ... I feel like I have a different relationship with him now," she said. "It's just, he's not physically present, you know what I mean?"

Lisa will appear on Paramount Network's new documentary I Am Patrick Swayze on Sunday, August 18, which would've marked Patrick's 67th birthday