Will Farrah Fawcett Live to See Her Cancer Documentary?
News of her son's recent rehab troubles have been kept from the actress.
May 8, 2009 -- Farrah Fawcett's documentary about her cancer battle is set to air next week but those close to her fear that she may die before its premiere.
Ryan O'Neal, the longtime companion of the "Charlie's Angels" star, discussed her condition this week.
"It's a love story," O'Neal, 68, told People magazine. "I just don't know how to play this one. I won't know this world without her. Cancer is an insidious enemy.
"She stays in bed now," he continued. "The doctors see that she is comfortable. Farrah is on IVs, but some of that is for nourishment. The treatment has pretty much ended."
O'Neal said Fawcett, 62, has lost her trademark blond locks.
"I rub her head," he said. "It's kind of fun, actually, this great, tiny little head. How she carried all that hair I'll never know. She doesn't have a vanity about it."
O'Neal has kept Fawcett from the news of surrounding their son, Redmond O'Neal, who is awaiting transfer from prison to a rehab facility.
"Farrah doesn't know Redmond's in trouble," says O'Neal. "And Redmond is terrified for his mother. 'I don't want to be in jail and have some guard tell me she is gone,' he said to me. I told him, 'She's rebounding.' I lied to him. I lie to her. It's the best thing."
Details about Fawcett's deteriorating condition come a week before "Farrah's Story," a two-hour long documentary about her journey through illness, is scheduled to air May 15 on NBC. Fawcett shot some of the video with a hand-held camera; her friends, including Alana Stewart, also contributed.
Fawcett's doctor refuted reports last month that the actress' weight had plummetted to a mere 86 pounds.
"She is not 86 pounds," Dr. Lawrence Piro told ABC's "Good Morning America." "She is 101 pounds. She has challenges every day with the fight with cancer. As long as she is able to fight, she will keep fighting."
Piro said 101 pounds was a "reasonable weight" under the circumstances. He also said that her relationship with O'Neal is a source of strength.
"It has been an amazing relationship and Ryan has been an amazing companion and partner for her," Piro said. "He has been with her all the way through this, at her side, what ever she needs. It is something that all of us could only hope for if we had to walk in this kind of path, someone who has been so dedicated as Ryan has been to Farrah."
Piro added that Fawcett never complains about her condition.
"Never once have I heard her ask, 'Why her,' which is a very natural thing to ask. But she has never perceived herself of being in a position of life where she assumed she should be immune," he said. "She has courage and she has strength. She can do what so many people aspire to do and what the journey with cancer teaches you is the ability to look in the face of fear and to not shutter."
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