I first met Farrah Fawcett at a dinner party in the 1970s. Looking back on it now, it feels like several lifetimes ago, but today as I write this I remember it so clearly. That dinner party was the starting point, and though for the first few years, we didn't know each other well, eventually we grew closer and closer. There were countless memories that we shared, days we spent together, birthdays our families shared -- we were the best of friends, and we went through it all.
Being friends with anyone for 30 years is no easy task -- people change, they drift apart, they move on. In my life, there have been people that I was convinced would be around forever, and yet, somehow they managed to drift away after a couple of years. Likewise there have been people who have begun as casual acquaintances but become more important with each passing year. That's the way it was for Farrah and me. Our friendship evolved to always bring us closer together, and with each birthday, each holiday, we became more instrumental to each other's lives.
Part of what makes being a friend for that long so incredible but also so difficult is that you really never know what life is going to throw at you. Farrah was the last person I ever thought would get cancer. It never remotely crossed my mind that such a thing would happen. She was always too strong, too healthy, too full of life. But life is fragile -- even for someone as vibrant as she was. One day Farrah was fine, the next she was not. Yet through it all, I never heard her question "Why me?" I never saw her act like a victim.
She made the decision to fight her cancer and never wavered. It was very hard -- sometimes unbearable -- to watch my friend suffer, but I was in awe of her ferocious determination. Sometimes I thought it was her stubbornness and sheer willpower that got her through it. Other times I marveled at her heroism in waging war with an enemy who gave no hint as to where it might attack next -- or how much it would destroy in its path.
The time I spent with Farrah was a blessing and a gift for me. I feel privileged to have been part of all this. I am a different person, a better person, because of it. As sad and painful as the journey was, it gave me a new perspective on who I am and what is really important in life.
My Journey With Farrah is my journal of these past three years -- what I saw, what I felt, what I was going through with Farrah, and how it was affecting my own life. It is a celebration of our friendship as much as it is a chronicle of cancer treatment. Every time I pick up this book, every time I flip through its pages and read the stories of us together, it brings a small part of her back to life.
Ultimately, this book is a tribute to Farrah, her courage, and her indomitable spirit. It's a story for anyone who has walked this type of journey with someone they loved, and a testament to friendships like ours that happen around the world every day.