Farrah's Heartwrenching Battle With Cancer

(CBS)  Actress Farrah Fawcett has been filming her long battle with anal cancer for more than three years. As the cancer worsened, however, she handed the camera over to her best friend, Alana Stewart, who continued to shoot Farrah's video diary.

"The Insider" recently sat down with Stewart to discuss Farrah's condition, and her experiences filming the documentary "Farrah's Story."

And Friday on The Early Show, "Insider" host Lara Spencer talked with co-anchor Harry Smith about Spencer's interview of Stewart.

Spencer says Stewart told her Fawcett, 62, is eating and isn't the shrinking violet that the tabloids portray her to be, but that weight is still an issue. Spencer added that Fawcett isn't receiving chemotherapy treatments anymore, but is still on anti-cancer medication.

"Alana says they're hoping for the miracle," Spencer said.

In the interview, Stewart says she doesn't have any idea how much time the "Charlie's Angel" star has left.

Doctors, she said, haven't given a timeline.

"...(Farrah) said to me many times during the last couple of years, she said, 'If there comes a period where I only have two months left to live, I want to know," ' Stewart told Spencer. "And so far, no one has said to her, 'You have two months to live,' so I am looking at that as a really good sign."

Fawcett has been fighting cancer for over three years, but refuses to let it get the best of her.

"I know that everyone will die eventually," she says, "but I do not want to die of this disease."

Stewart has been by her side for much of the filming, and has seen the highs and lows of the fight.

"She has never given up," Stewart told "The Insider." "What has gotten Farrah through is her faith and her inner strength and her sense of humor, which she still has."

As for Ryan O'Neal, whose romantic involvement with Fawcett has spanned three decades, he's been by her side.

"He walks in the room and she just lights up," Stewart said. "If he is not there, she asks for him, but he is there, he is staying with her all the time, and I think he is like her rock of Gibraltar."

O'Neal says he wants to marry Fawcett, but he says she's "hesistant."

"I'm working (on it), though," he told "The Insider." "I'm working. I'm working."

Stewart said that she thinks O'Neal would be overcome by the loss of Fawcett.

"Well, if and when it happens," Stewart said, "I think he will just be beyond devastated. I really do."

Although the documentary is finished, Stewart is still filming Fawcett's ongoing battlefight, and she told Spencer she'll continue to captrue it right up to the end.

[number1GI]

Dear Farrah: I watched your story last night.. I noticed you clutched your Rosary. That's the girl ! you keep the faith, Keep the faith You have a lot of people out here praying for you.
You see, I too had cancer nine years ago.so I know what you are going through. I don't know how you survived all the flights to Germany and back but you did and I respect that. You are a fighter Farrah That's what it takes.
Please tell Ryan and Redmond we are praying for them also.
Bob W.

[Jta049]

After watching the heartwrenching story of Farrah I am so incredibly impressed by the strength and determination of this woman. She is a fighter . It's not about the hair or the acting. It's about a struggle that she has taken head on. I think she did exactly what she wanted to do with this documentary. Bringing awareness and showing what cancer really is. My prayers are with you and I hope you get the miracle you deserve. God Bless You.

[hissteps4u]

Live and let die your a sicko go see your shrink your Prosac and ambian and xanax refills are ready....

[LIVEANDLETDIE1]

IF EVERYBODY ON EARTH PRAYS FOR HER TO LIVE SHE WILL LIVE!!!!!

[LIVEANDLETDIE1]

FARRAH IS AN ANGEL AND WILL LIVE AND MARRY RYAN O'NEAL. THIS MOVIE OF LIFE WILL HAVE A HAPPY ENDING!!!!! REMEMBER LANCE ARMSTRONG!!!! THE DOCTORS COULDN'T FIGURE THAT OUT EITHER!!!!! AMEN!!!!!

[LIVEANDLETDIE1]

FARRH FAWCETT IS AN ANGEL SENT BY GOD TO EARTH TO DO GOOD WORKS AND SET UP FOUNDATIONS AND CHARITIES FOR THE GOOD OF ALL HUMANITY. RYAN O'NEAL IS ONE OF THE LUCKIEST MEN ON EARTH AND WAS SENT HERE TO DO THE SAME!!!!!! MESSAGE SENT TO ME BY GOD!!!!!

[LIVEANDLETDIE1]

I WAS IN A MOTORCYCLE CRASH SEVERAL YEARS AGO AND HAVE BEATEN DEATH AT LEAST 5 OR 6 TIMES AFTER THE ACCIDENT. I'LL PERSONALLY SEND
GOD AND THE HOLY SPIRIT. FARRAH FAWCETT AS OF THIS E-MAIL IS CURED OF ALL CANCER AND WILL LIVE!!!!!! GOD TOLD ME SHE AND RYAN O'NEAL NEED TO SAVE
HER SON FROM THE ADDICTIONS OF HEROIN AND STAND BY HIM IN AND OUT OF
JAIL , NEVER STOPPING , NEVER GIVING UP ON HIM. HE MUST BE SAVED AT ALL
COST!!!!!!!!! FARRAH IS AS SPECIAL AS JOHN LENNON WAS BUT THIS TIME SHE WILL LIVE A LONG LIFE TO DO GOOD WORKS FOR ALL OF HUMANITY. RYAN O'NEAL ASKED ,WHY HER ??? - BECAUSE ONLY THE GOOD DIE YOUNG!!!!! THIS TIME SHE WILL GET A BREAK BECAUSE I WILL INTERVENE ON HER BEHAVE BUT SHE MUST SAVE HER SON FOR IT TO BE SO!!!!!!!

[DGallaty]

Dear Ryan, Family & Friends,
I am truly sorry for the suffering and pain that you and Farrah are going though right now.
My husband & I are on the same roller coaster.
We were told on April 1, 2005 that he had cancer. But it was not an April Fool's Joke.
We started radiation and chemo treatments right away. Than lost everything in Katina. And the following jan were told. that there was nothing else they could do. I made an appointment at MD Anderson In Huston, Tx. Where he had surgery to remove the tumor in his lower Esp and Upper Stom. Then we were told he was free of cancer in July 2006. When he returned for his Pet Scan the following Nov. We were told it was back and had spread to the liver, Kidney, spine, lung and right Adrenal gland. After another bout of treatments, "Sorry", . We were told that there was another chemo he could try. but it had never before been tried on his type of cancer.And they did not feel that it would work. After a month of rest he desided to try again, and After 7 months of treatment and another Pet we were givin the words "Cancer Free". It has been almost 8 months and we were told last week that is back . He just had another Pet on Wenseday and we go next Friday for results. We would than decide the course of action.

I watched Farrah's Story, not realizing how much it would touch me, I hope that Her Story and her Celeb brings awareness and maybe changes to our Health Care system.

We are one of the fortunite ones, We have Insurance and just when he was about to reach his max life limit, it was increased. I can't even think what would have happened had we not had Insurance.

I am a true believer that everything happens for a reason. I hope that you will find the reasoning for Her & Your suffering.

God Bless You
You are in my prayers

[GerryR5]

Life is a series of choices. We make choices every day about what to read and see. How will Farrah's fans know what is happening to her unless they read about it? If you don't want to read it simply click it away. Thanks, CBS, for updating the rest of us who do want to know. Maybe we can learn something.

My deepest sympathy goes out to Farrah and her family in this fight of her life. I'll be praying for her and for that miracle, as I would and have for any other cancer sufferer.

Gerry

[zajaimot]

[***dear mr. o'neal - i am not 'wishing' miss fawcett further pain - i am publishing this for you and her family/friends/fans - the pain never goes away from the survivors - it has been more than 30 years since the death of my mother - and i still grieve...perhaps what is 'meant' by ever-lasting life is that the memories of people we cherish never leave our spirits. i am sorry miss fawcett has been struck by this horrendous disease.***]

I heard my mother sentenced to die...
from a man of ethical profession
Who was not my father

In a hospital hallway
where blood is never allowed or seen
Because blood
is associated with suffering

And there is no suffering here
Because it is overcomeby clouds of ammonia disinfectant
Where nurses with needles
inject mindlessness on demand
to ease you into anterooms of death certificates
waiting to be filled out

By supposed healers
Hiding behind gauze masks
In this special place
where my mother was sentenced to die
so matter of factly

by a man who was a surgeon
Who would see none of my mother?s tears
When she would stare in a mirror
Touching the puckered purpled skin
where mastectomy scars would never heal
And no one would ever seeas her fingers traced memories
in breathless moments of warm lips
that has vanished with the cold stainless touch

from a stranger slicing away her life?s supposed beauty
Breasts removed by a man
with words that strangle all hope in the malignancy of existence
And I heard my mother sentenced to die
From a man of ethical profession
who never witnessed my father?s face
while he lifted my embarrassed mother
in his arms from off the foul-stained bed sheets
No longer able to control herself

in that phase of remission as transient as day-lilies
While we stood around in hushed reverence
as if we were already in some church at prayer
Hearing only my father?s voice of helplessness

Swearing to us that cancer
Is now a tarot-card of recurring curse
And I heard my mother sentenced to die
From a man of supposed compassion who never asked
Why she always felt so cold
And never saw the sweater she always wore
Even in the yellowing of summer
As we watched her shrivel
From the chemicals and radiation
Into the bald hollows of her dull eyes
Which never saw
My father?s dim reflection ever after
In a mirror where his fingers rubbed
Over-and-over touching that sore place
As if he could bring back breathless moments
Long after the final passion.
Posted by Jaimot's Jargon at 12:04 PM
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