Patrick Swayze spent much of his career playing men audiences couldn’t forget.

But during the final chapter of his life, there was only one person he wanted beside him.

His wife, Lisa Niemi.

Patrick and Lisa had known each other since they were teenagers. They married in 1975, long before Dirty Dancing and Ghost turned him into one of Hollywood’s most recognizable leading men.

Their marriage lasted 34 years.

Then, in 2008, their lives changed completely.

Patrick was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer.

The prognosis was devastating, but Patrick kept fighting. Lisa fought alongside him, helping with his care while he continued working for as long as he could.

Eventually, however, there came a point when there was nothing left to do except be together.

Lisa later described those final days in her memoir Worth Fighting For.

She remembered holding Patrick’s hand, listening to music with him and sleeping beside him with her arm around him.

And then came the words she would never forget.

Lisa said the last words she spoke to Patrick were:

“I love you.”

And according to Lisa, those were Patrick’s last words to her, too.

Three simple words.

For a couple who had spent most of their lives together, perhaps nothing more needed to be said.

Patrick died on September 14, 2009, at just 57 years old.

Lisa would eventually rebuild her life, but she has continued speaking openly about Patrick, their marriage and the enormous impact losing him had on her.

Fans remember Patrick Swayze as Johnny Castle in Dirty Dancing, Sam Wheat in Ghost, and the charismatic star who seemed larger than life.

Lisa remembers something much more personal.

She remembers the teenager she fell in love with, the husband she spent more than three decades beside — and one final exchange between them.

After everything they had experienced together, their goodbye came down to the same three words with which they had lived so much of their life:

“I love you.”