Farrah's Battle With Cancer
Farrah Fawcett was diagnosed with anal cancer in 2006, and began treatment that included chemotherapy and surgery. On February 2, 2007 (Fawcett's 60th birthday), the Associated Press reported that Fawcett was cancer-free. The cancer recurred, and in May 2007 she was diagnosed with stage IV cancer that had metastasized to her liver (which has a 5-year survival rate of less than 20%); a malignant polyp was found where she had been treated for the initial cancer.
Not wanting to undergo a colostomy, Fawcett traveled to Germany for treatments described variously in the press as "aggressive"and "alternative". There, Ursula Jacob prescribed a treatment including surgery to remove the anal tumor, a course of perfusion and embolization for her liver cancer by Claus Kiehling and Thomas Vogl in Germany, and chemotherapy in the US. Although initially the tumors were regressing, their reappearance a few months later necessitated a new course that included laser ablation therapy and chemoembolization. Aided by friend Alana Stewart, Fawcett documented her battle with the disease.
In early April 2009, Fawcett was hospitalized following her return to the United States. On April 6, the Associated Press reported that the cancer had metastasized to Fawcett's liver and explained that the hospitalization was not due to her cancer, but instead due to a painful abdominal hematoma. Fawcett was released from the hospital on April 9. A month later on May 7, Fawcett was reported as being critically ill, with Ryan O'Neal quoted as saying she was spending her days at home on an IV and often asleep.
The Los Angeles Times reported that she was in the last stages of terminal cancer and had seen her son Redmond in April 2009, although he was shackled and under supervision because he was then incarcerated. Her 91-year-old father, James, flew to Los Angeles to visit her. Cancer specialist Lawrence Piro, who was treating Fawcett in Los Angeles, and Fawcett's friend and Angels co-star Kate Jackson, appeared together on The Today Show. They dispelled tabloid-fueled rumors, including suggestions that Fawcett had been in a coma, had dropped to 86 pounds, and had even given up her fight against the disease or lost the will to live.
Farrah's Story, a two-hour documentary filmed by Fawcett and Alana Stewart, aired on NBC on May 15, 2009. At its premiere airing, the documentary was watched by nearly nine million people, and it was re-aired on the broadcast network's cable stations MSNBC, Bravo and Oxygen. Fawcett posthumously earned her fourth Emmy nomination as the producer of Farrah's Story.
Image above: Alana Stewart and Farrah Fawcett. Image courtesy of Alana Stewart.
Not wanting to undergo a colostomy, Fawcett traveled to Germany for treatments described variously in the press as "aggressive"and "alternative". There, Ursula Jacob prescribed a treatment including surgery to remove the anal tumor, a course of perfusion and embolization for her liver cancer by Claus Kiehling and Thomas Vogl in Germany, and chemotherapy in the US. Although initially the tumors were regressing, their reappearance a few months later necessitated a new course that included laser ablation therapy and chemoembolization. Aided by friend Alana Stewart, Fawcett documented her battle with the disease.
In early April 2009, Fawcett was hospitalized following her return to the United States. On April 6, the Associated Press reported that the cancer had metastasized to Fawcett's liver and explained that the hospitalization was not due to her cancer, but instead due to a painful abdominal hematoma. Fawcett was released from the hospital on April 9. A month later on May 7, Fawcett was reported as being critically ill, with Ryan O'Neal quoted as saying she was spending her days at home on an IV and often asleep.
The Los Angeles Times reported that she was in the last stages of terminal cancer and had seen her son Redmond in April 2009, although he was shackled and under supervision because he was then incarcerated. Her 91-year-old father, James, flew to Los Angeles to visit her. Cancer specialist Lawrence Piro, who was treating Fawcett in Los Angeles, and Fawcett's friend and Angels co-star Kate Jackson, appeared together on The Today Show. They dispelled tabloid-fueled rumors, including suggestions that Fawcett had been in a coma, had dropped to 86 pounds, and had even given up her fight against the disease or lost the will to live.
Farrah's Story, a two-hour documentary filmed by Fawcett and Alana Stewart, aired on NBC on May 15, 2009. At its premiere airing, the documentary was watched by nearly nine million people, and it was re-aired on the broadcast network's cable stations MSNBC, Bravo and Oxygen. Fawcett posthumously earned her fourth Emmy nomination as the producer of Farrah's Story.
Image above: Alana Stewart and Farrah Fawcett. Image courtesy of Alana Stewart.
"Farrah's Story" Cancer Documentary
