Fawcett death spotlights a rare, little-discussed cancer

ATLANTA - In a twist of medical fate, Farrah Fawcett has become the poster girl for anal cancer, a rare disease often linked to a sexually transmitted virus.

Before her death last week, at age 62, the actress had come to terms with the illness and agreed to have her suffering and treatment chronicled for a television documentary.

"She knew that she had the kind of anal cancer that she wasn't going to ultimately overcome, and decided to leave as much of a legacy of awareness as she possibly could," her physician, Lawrence Piro, said Tuesday before her funeral.

It is an unexpected legacy for Fawcett, whose feathered hair and electric smile once dominated TV screens. A sexy photo of her in a red swimsuit, taken in the 1970s, was the top-selling pinup of all time.

But she was stricken by anal cancer, a rarely discussed affliction with symptoms that are sometimes mistaken for hemorrhoids. After tabloids began reporting on her illness, her family acknowledged it and a friend produced Farrah's Story, a documentary aired in May that showed Fawcett's treatment and suffering.

It was important new information for people unfamiliar with the disease or reluctant to even talk about it, some health officials said.

Breast cancer, prostate cancer, and colon cancer were all once unmentionable diagnoses that gradually became commonly discussed, thanks in part to celebrity disclosures from people like first lady Betty Ford, golfer Arnold Palmer, and CBS news anchor Katie Couric, whose husband died of colon cancer.

But the anus is associated not only with defecation but also a form of sex, observed Barron Lerner, a Columbia University internist.

Lerner said he and his patients frequently have conversations about different cancers and their potential risk factors. But anal cancer? Anal sex? "I never talk about that with my patients," he said. "It's something that might freak a lot of people out."

However, in the wake of Fawcett's illness, it's likely that some patients will ask about her case and those topics will be discussed, he said.

Anal cancer is rare. Only about 5,000 cases are diagnosed each year in the United States, and there are only about 700 deaths, according to American Cancer Society statistics.

The cancer is often associated with gay men who have anal sex and immune systems weakened by HIV or other conditions. But actually, more than half of the diagnoses and deaths occur in women.

"Having anal cancer diagnosed in Farrah Fawcett makes a point that it is more common in women than men," said Mona Saraiya of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.