Patrick Swayze's devastated widow spoke out for the first time since her husband's death.

Lisa Niemi said, "It's a brutal truth that you have to go on with out that person." Though Swayze was battling cancer for almost two years, nothing prepared her for life without him.

"I thought during the 22 months of my husbands illness that it gave me all this time to get used to the idea of losing him and I found for myself, when I actually got to that point, I said, 'No, no, no, no.'  The actual loss is like an animal all of its own.  It made all sadness and grief previous to that look like an intellectual concept."

One major challenge she faces now is coming across Swayze's movies on TV. "Actually, Ghost was on recently and I sat there for ten minutes going…do I have the  courage to put it on the station and actually it wasn't so bad because it's almost like, that’s an actor playing a role," said Niemi.

Emotions ran high at The Women's Conference, moderated by Maria Shriver. Swayze's widow was flanked by Elizabeth Edwards and actress Susan St. James, who have also publicly endured devastating deaths of loved ones.

Susan St. James lost her son Teddy five years ago.

Shriver opened up about the recent passing of her uncle Ted Kennedy and her mother. "A life without my mother was and is unimaginable to me," says Shriver.

St. James said, "It still hits you like a hammer." She said she still struggles with the death of her 14-year-old son Teddy, who was killed in a plane crash in 2004.

"It's five years and I’ve never gone in his room. I go in and I dust it, but I’ve never moved his things. We talked about that and it's really weird." 

And Elizabeth Edwards said she is still brought to tears thinking about her 16 year-old son Wade who lost his life in a 1996 car accident. "You're not going to get over it. You're never ever going to get over it and there are times when I dissolve still."  

At one point Swayze's widow offered comforting words to Elizabeth Edwards, who is fighting incurable cancer and her husband's admitted infidelity. 

"Cancer may have taken him, but it never beat him," said Niemi.

The four women came together, bravely helping others by sharing their private pain.