"Ryan's being great, and Redmond is there, of course," says Fawcett pal Sylvia Dorsey of the family (in 2003). "He loves his mom." Photo by: Kevin Winter / Getty
Farrah's Fight Against Cancer| Farrah Fawcett
Dangerfield says she visited Farrah the night before doctors prepped her for chemo. "I thought I would cheer her up," she recalls. "But it was the other way around. Farrah had me laughing for hours. She was incredible – with great humor, optimistic and fierce." While Fawcett is not feigning heroic strength, Dorsey says, "she's definitely not falling apart; she's quite calm. She told me, 'This is the time for me to heal. This is the time where I have to think about myself.' She's not afraid."

In fact, Fawcett is trying to keep her life as close as possible to the way it was before. Dangerfield says that she and Fawcett still plan to vacation in St. Bart's over the holidays. And a few days back, when Nevius called to check in, Fawcett was at O'Neal's house, busy in the kitchen, baking cookies. "She said, 'You know what, right now I'm just focusing on being happy and healthy.' " In the meantime, Fawcett's friends have no doubt that she'll call upon her inner strength and religious faith to pull her through. "The Fawcetts are a very strong family – we've been through a lot, and we're always there for each other," says Farrah's cousin Lisa Fawcett. "And Farrah is a fighter. She knows she can win this battle."

• By Karen S. Schneider and Michelle Tauber. Michael Fleeman, Champ Clark and Nicholas White in Los Angeles, Anne Lang in Austin and Jennifer Frey in New York City