Los Angeles , California ( CNN ) -- Farrah Fawcett 's death a year ago was the top story for only a few hours , quickly eclipsed by shocking news that Michael Jackson had died . Jackson arrived in an ambulance at UCLA Medical Center three miles away and just three hours after Fawcett was pronounced dead at another hospital on June 25 , 2009 . `` It was such an odd coincidence that she and Michael Jackson should die just within hours of each other , '' Fawcett 's closest friend , Alana Stewart , said . `` It 's just amazing that something like that could happen . '' Fawcett might have `` gotten a smile about the attention being off her , '' Stewart said . `` I always had the sense that Farrah would kind of be getting a laugh out of that and saying 'Thank God , they 're over there , finally . They 're leaving me alone . The paparazzi , the reporters , the news cameras . ' '' Stewart is not so understanding about the Academy Awards producers decision not to include Fawcett in their 2010 Oscar tribute to movie figures who had died . `` I was so angry , '' she said . `` I called up the director of the Academy the next day and never thought that he would take my call , and he did take my call . And I said , 'Please tell me this was a horrible oversight . ' And he said , 'No , there was a lot of discussion about it , and finally we felt that she was known more as a television actress . ' '' Stewart pointed out that Fawcett acted in at least 16 movies . She was nominated for an Independent Spirit Award for her acting in `` The Apostle '' with Robert Duval . One of Fawcett 's five Golden Globe nominations was for best actress in the film `` Extremities . '' `` I ca n't imagine why they would have made that decision , and it was just really wrong , '' she said . Fawcett 's long battle with cancer was closely followed by fans , thanks in part to a camera carried by Stewart . Fawcett asked Stewart to tape her doctor 's visits at first as a way to remember what she was told , but she later decided to make it public . The documentary `` Farrah 's Story '' aired just five weeks before her death . The actress , whose hair and face made her a global icon , chose to not hide the ravages of her disease under makeup . `` She wanted it to be real , and she did n't want any window dressing on this battle with cancer , '' Stewart said . `` She felt like she could really make a difference and that she could help others and she could share her experience in this battle with cancer with other people who were also battling cancer , '' Stewart said . Fawcett traveled to Germany to seek alternative cancer treatments not offered in the United States . `` She said to the doctor in Germany one day , 'You know , I 'm glad I got cancer , because now I know I can make a difference , ' '' Stewart said . Even after her death , she is battling cancer through the Farrah Fawcett Foundation , which will fund research and clinical trials of alternative treatments for anal and pediatric cancers , Stewart said . `` Some of the traditional things in the beginning of her treatment here really harmed her and really sucked the life out of her , '' Stewart said . `` They were so debilitating . '' Fawcett searched for `` cutting edge '' alternatives to the chemotherapy that was `` like napalming your body , '' Stewart says . Fawcett 's story -- which Stewart also chronicled in her book `` My Journey With Farrah '' -- is about a woman fighting to live against mounting odds of a spreading cancer . It was a spirit that kept her alive , she said . `` The kind of cancer she had and the way it had spread , most people would n't have lived as long as she lived , '' Stewart said . `` What 's so incredible about her story is that she had this indomitable spirit and this incredible courage , and you know also her sense of humor . '' It was a battle that she never thought she would lose , always expecting the miracle , Stewart said . `` She fought until the very last day , '' she said . `` The doctors , the nurses , everyone around her said they had never seen someone fight so hard . And she did not want to give up . Not for one second . Not till the very end . '' Stewart , who was at her hospital bedside when Fawcett died , will say little about her last moments . `` I just felt like that was a very personal , private time and I can say that she went very peacefully with just a few people around her , '' she said . `` Ryan ( O'Neal ) was there , I was there , her friend Mela ( Murphy ) was there , the nurse and the doctor were there , and that was it . '' The `` Charlie 's Angels '' actress will be remembered on the anniversary of her death when her closest friends gather in Beverly Hills , California , Friday to cut the ribbon on the Farrah Fawcett Foundation 's new headquarters .
Michael Jackson 's death hours later overshadowed Fawcett 's . Friend said Farrah would have smiled about coincidence . Comment: Actress hoped her cancer battle would inspire others .