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
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Michael Jackson's death hours later overshadowed Fawcett's
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Friend said Farrah would have smiled about coincidence
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Farrah Fawcett Foundation supports alternative cancer treatments
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Actress hoped her cancer battle would inspire others
Fawcett's story -- which Stewart also chronicled in her book "My Journey With @placeholder" -- is about a woman fighting to live against mounting odds of a spreading cancer.