Patrick Swayze's Memoirs Shed Light upon Actor's Battle against Disease

The "Dirty Dancing" star, 57, who lost his 20-month battle against the disease on Monday, wrote that fighting his cancer had been an "emotional rollercoaster".

But in excerpts of the memoir "The Time of My Life", released on Wednesday, he wrote later; "I began thinking to myself, I've had more lifetimes than any 10 people put together, and it's been an amazing ride. So this is okay."

It was aloso reported, in "The Time of My Life" Patrick Swayze reveals how he first got the devastating news 20 months ago that he had pancreatic cancer. The actor, who died Monday at 57, co-wrote the book with his wife Lisa Niemi. Excerpts will appear in the new issue of People magazine, out tomorrow.

"I had been having some digestive trouble, mostly acid reflux and a kind of bloated feeling, for a few weeks," Swayze writes in the book, which will be released Sept. 29. "I've had a sensitive stomach my whole life, so I hadn't thought much of it, but lately I just couldn't shake the constant discomfort."

But Swayze fought throughout his illness, even during the production of his A&E series, "The Beast," in the summer of 2008. "I continued with chemotherapy all the way through the shoot," he writes. "But I never took any painkillers since they dull not only your pain but also your sharpness."

It was also reported, Atria Books publisher Judith Curr told NBC's "Today" show that "when he sat down to write the book, he wanted to see if he had lived a good life.

"He absolutely was a good person and lived a good life," Curr said.

Swayze's storied career included runs on Broadway in the plays "Grease" and "Chicago." He also starred in the 1990 blockbuster "Ghost" and the 2001 movie "Donnie Darko."