Some details here.
I had previously posted some thoughts on the subject of her illness here.
Her wikipedia page notes that there was another case of cancer in her family.
According to this report, although O'Neal had announced his intention to marry her, the two did not have a chance to wed before herdeath.
People magazine has an article here.
The wikipedia page on anal cancer is here. The wiki entry connects anal cancer to HPV, but some articles detailing Fawcett's condition say that she had an intestinal tumor removed as a baby, which hints that she was predisposed.
This link from the American Cancer Society has detailed information on anal cancer.
Some bloggers have said that O'Neal and Fawcett were marketing her disease as one last chance for fame; others have drawn attention to her fading looks and his drug issues.
All those things may or may not be accurate, but today is not the day to remark on them.
All of us, when the end comes, will want the world to forget our shortcomings and mistakes for just a moment. We can't ask that for ourselves if we don't offer it to anyone else.
There will be plenty of time to snark about O'Neal and Fawcett in the weeks to come. We'll still be here, after all. (God willing.)
In closing:
Though nothing can bring back the hour Of splendor in the grass, of glory in the flower; We will grieve not, rather find
Strength in what remains behind;
In the primal sympathy
Which having been must ever be;
In the soothing thoughts that spring
Out of human suffering; In the faith that looks through death, In years that bring the philosophic mind.
William Wordsworth
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