lol there's like a 4% survival rate with pancreatic cancer or something. When he was diagnosed he was already at Stage IV, so I doubt smoking made a difference
As I understand it, the lethality of pancreatic cancer is not a result of the disease per se but rather the lag in detection from onset to symptom. Pancreatic cancer apparently doesn't manifest complications until about Stage III or Stage IV. By that point (esp. Stage IV), it is mostly a death sentence as the cancer has metastasized. Detect it sooner and it seems the survivability is the same as most cancers.
Running a course of treatment must have been a tough decision for Swayze. Chemo will fuck yo shit up, but maybe you're the one who will make it.