Posted on 07/09/2009 7:55:29 PM PDT by Maelstorm
BY MELANIE HAIKEN OF CARING.COM
She may have started her public career as a fluffy pin-up girl, but Farrah Fawcett couldn’t have ended it with more dignity in her role as a public figure. Diagnosed three years ago with anal cancer, Fawcett talked openly about her battle with a type of cancer that’s particularly embarrassing to talk about.
With her mane of beautiful hair, white teeth, and sun-tinged skin, Farrah was the picture of health and the quintessential California girl (though she hailed from Texas), adorning many a teenage boy’s wall in her famous red tank top. Thanks to the gritty documentary “Farrah’s Story” that she allowed her friend Alana Stewart to film, we saw her as she finished her life lying in a bed, barely moving, unable to recognize her own son. She brought the horrors of cancer and the infallibility of cancer treatment into our living rooms and got us to talk about really hard topics, like what it would be like to suffer like that, and how far we’d be willing to go to stay alive.
When Farrah’s Story aired in May, it prompted a worldwide discussion about cancer prevention and treatment options that continues today. Here are some of the things Farrah Fawcett wanted people to know:
Be Alert. Anyone can get cancer and not know they have it; access to plenty of money and top-notch medical care doesn’t guarantee safety from this deadly and often symptomless disease. Get every possible test, talk to your doctor anytime you experience unexplained symptoms that might be cancer, and generally stay on the alert.
Cancer Treatment is Brutal - and Very Worthwhile. With headlines like “Farrah Fawcett Shaved Her Famous Hair During Chemotherapy” — and images of herself bald and gaunt — Farrah put a celebrity face on the traumatic realities of cancer treatment. Yet she also made it clear that she weathered the side-effects of chemotherapy and radiation bravely because she was focused on beating her cancer, and she never wavered in that determination.
There’s Always Room for Hope. Those of us in Cancer World know we’d be nowhere without hope. With her famous pronouncement that she was “hoping for a miracle,” Farrah told us that she never gave up hope, and neither should we give up hope for the cancer patients in our care.
Talk to Your Doctor About Lifestyle Risks. Like cervical cancer, anal cancer can be caused by exposure to HPV (the genital wart virus), so having unprotected sex or sex with multiple partners puts you at risk. Your doctors need to know if you’ve been exposed to these risks or they can’t help you protect yourself.
What Is Anal Cancer? What Causes Anal Cancer?
http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/156549.php
And your point is what ?
As a teenage boy, I had the FF poster hung in my room. She was hot.
Although her acting was spotty at best (good in some things, awful in others), her outward beauty never really faded until this bout with cancer.
That is one of the most insidious things about cancer. The toll it takes on ones physical condition and state.
FF showed she was a trooper right up to the end.
Just raising awareness.
Bringing forth some knowledge for us.
We all have been warned that medicine is still in the learning stages.
Thanks for the information.
Never will forget Steve Martins line about how many hours he spent, holding up Farrah’s poster with one hand ;-)
RIP Farrah, you brought happiness to many.
RIP Farrah.
I remember you.
I also respect her that she didn’t pull what so many sick or injured celebs have done of recent - and use their injury or illness/disease as a stump for embryonic stem cell research.
That is one I felt sorry in seeing passing.
Notice - it is still called PRACTICING medicine for a reason...
I don’t respect or disrespect her. I don’t know enough about Farrah Fawcett. I’m sorry to see anyone suffer. My sister died of oral cancer. She didn’t get it from smoking she got it from HPV. It amazes me that while people are warned about so many things that it is exactly these kinds of things related to sex that people and the media are too happy to remain in the dark on or cloud the issue.
And now the Government wants to give it a try
If that don't give one the Hershey squirts
Yep, that poster.
Yep, that poster.
I think people took her cancer seriously and felt for her pain and wanted her to recover. I think her stock went up with people due to her brave fight. I could be wrong but that is what I get from people who speak of her. Oh and most people are pissed by the lack of coverage she got with her death compared to MJ.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.