LONDON:

Actor Patrick Swayze, who is battling with pancreatic cancer, has hit out at news reports suggesting that the Dirty Dancing star was on his deathbed and claimed he was responding well to treatment.

A US tabloid had, last week, claimed that the Hollywood actor was beginning “the countdown to the end” after being told the ca-ncer had spread to his liver.

An angry Swayze has issued a statement denying his health had taken a turn for the worse, the Daily Mail reported. The 55-year-old actor said he had been working hard on his new TV show The Beast.

“The only thorn in my side being that many tabloids have been consistently reporting lies and false information about me and those close to me. And latest, they’re reporting that

I’m on my last legs and saying goodbye to my tearful family. It’s a battle, and so far, I’ve been winning. I’m one of the lucky few that responds well to treatment,” Swayze said.

“It’s upsetting that the shoddy and reckless reporting from these publications cast a negative shadow on the positive and good fight I’m fighting. For me, my family, and those close to me, it amounts to downright emotional cruelty. That makes me angry when hope is so precious,” said Swayze who was diagnosed with the disease in January, with his doctor revealing the actor had “a very limited amount” of cancer in his pancreas. — Agencies