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THE BABY WHO FOUGHT FOR HIS LIFE
Updated On: 20 September, 2009 06:56 AM IST | | FRANK DURHAM
A RARE ARCHIVAL INTERVIEW WITH PATSY SWAYZE, MOTHER OF HOLLYWOOD STAR PATRICK SWAYZE, WHO SUCCUMBED TO CANCER ON MONDAY. AND, AN EXCLUSIVE LOOK AT THEIR FAMILY ALBUM
Au00a0RARE ARCHIVAL INTERVIEW WITH PATSY SWAYZE, MOTHER OF HOLLYWOOD STAR PATRICK SWAYZE, WHO SUCCUMBED TO CANCER ON MONDAY. AND, AN EXCLUSIVE LOOK AT THEIR FAMILY ALBUM
LOS ANGELES: At the hospital they said, "We think we've lost the baby." But a little Irish nun believed Patrick had proved them wrong because he was born "with a star on his head".
The little nun gazed with wonder at the scrap of a baby she cradled in her arms. Although only newly born, he had defied all the odds to cling firmly to life. As she held him out for the exhausted mother in the hospital bed to see, the nun whispered in a soft, Irish brogue: "Your baby was born with a star on his head."
That tiny, determined baby, whom doctors wrote off almost as soon as he came into the world, grew up to be Patrick Swayze. A Hollywood giant, this time with a star on his door. The Texas hunk set millions of women's hearts afire in the sizzling movie, Dirty Dancing.
He thrilled audiences all over the world as he surfed through massive waves and performed breath-taking sky dives. The baby who fought so hard for life, won his way into the hearts of audiences with brilliant performances in films like Ghost and City Of Hope.
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u00a0The smile is megawatt and the looks already have that star quality, as Patrick prepares to take a trip, aged 18 months |
To the world, he had all the trappings of stardom fame, money and a beautiful wife. To his mother Patsy, Patrick Wayne Swayze would always be a miracle she called "Little Buddy". At the graceful home near Los Angeles that Patrick bought for her, Patsy, in her 70s, leafed through her family album and told me: "I'll never forget the words of that little Irish nun.
"They seemed strange. But I knew what she meant... that Patrick was our little miracle, because he had survived such a difficult birth.
"Ever since, Patrick had this I hate to use the wordu00a0 insane drive to accomplish everything he set out to do."
Patsy turned the pages and paused at two black and white snapshots, taken at her old home in Houston, Texas. They showed her smiling proudly as she nursed three-day-old Patrick. In one of the pictures, she is breastfeeding him.
She said: "You can use any of the other photographs in this album, but these are so private I really don't think they should be published."
Those fading snapshots brought back poignant memories. They took Patsy, a top international dance teacher, back to St Joseph's Hospital, Houston, in 1952, where Little Buddy was fighting for his life.
Patsy, her dancer's figure still as lithe as a teenager's, told me: "Patrick was born eight weeks prematurely. It was a very traumatic birth.
"The placenta tore loose and came first. So my baby was without oxygen for a long time.u00a0 "I was lying unconscious when they came out and told my mother, 'We're working on Patsy now. We think we've lost the baby.' "
As the sunlight sparkled on the pool outside, Patsy was living again that dark day. She went on: "My mother, Gladys, was a surgical nurse and the hospital's supervisor.
"So they told her things they wouldn't tell anyone else. That long ago, they didn't know so much about CPR and things like that.
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u00a0At 14, the smouldering, good looks that won a million women's hearts were beginning to develop How do you like the new new mid-day.com experience? Share your feedback and help us improve. Read Next Story Trending StoriesLatest Photos |
