Farrah Fawcett may have jumped into the world of celebrity as a beautiful blonde in a swimsuit, but that's not how she's being remembered by one of her Austin admirers.

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Raw video: Austin cancer patient remembers Fawcett

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"I grew up in the 60s and 70s and Farrah was on everybody's wall, whether you were male or female," said Gail Chovan, owner of Blackmail boutique on South Congress. "She was who everyone wanted to be and whose hair everyone wanted to have."

But Chovan says it's not her hair or her smile that she'll remember most about Fawcett. It's the unblinking way she tackled the cancer that eventually claimed her life.

"Farrah has been just the epitome of a fighter, and that's one thing that has really touched me, is just her fighting spirit," said Chovan, who is undergoing radiation for breast cancer.

"People always talk about cancer survivors, and I prefer to talk about cancer fighters, because survivor to me connotes something where you are just hanging back and sitting, you know, where you've made it through, and now you can rest. I think once you've been touched by cancer and you're out there actively fighting, and even if it disappears for a while, the way it did with Farrah, it came back and she kept on fighting until the end."

Chovan says Fawcett confronted cancer head on and never gave up her will to live.

"From just not taking no for an answer to going across the world for alternative treatment -- and granted, being lucky enough to be financially able to go and do that -- but just trying anything to overcome this disease," Chovan said. "It's the fighting spirit, and she really did have it."