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As she goes through radiation treatments in the coming weeks, Fawcett will have to deal with side effects that can range from fatigue to diarrhea. Though Fawcett declined to speak to PEOPLE for this story, she sent word through her close friend Pat Van Patten: "Farrah says to tell you that she's feeling good, that everything is under control," says Van Patten. "She has chosen to have the aggressive treatment. There is a high curability for what she has. They are going to shrink the tumor. She's going to attack it. She said to tell you that she will be in a weakened condition for a while and won't look that good. But her spirits are good. Her father is here, and Ryan and her son are with her. She's going to take care of it."
Indeed, her father, James, 90, a retired oil field contractor, flew in from Houston to join O'Neal and Redmond at his daughter's side during her Oct. 9 chemo session. His trademark tough love is, say friends, just what she needs. "Her dad is somebody who doesn't believe in sitting around and complaining and feeling sorry for yourself," says Nevius. "He says you should get up and do something. In some ways, Farrah is very much her father's daughter. She gets her fighting spirit from him." It was the elder Fawcett who lightened the mood just before his daughter's chemo was administered. According to O'Neal, James asked the doctors who were milling around, "'Y'all have chemo too?' And they said, 'No, why?' and he said, 'Because you're all bald.' "
