Valerie Harper on Terminal Cancer Diagnosis: Im Not Dying Until I Do
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| Valerie Harper attends a signing for her book "I, Rhoda" at Barnes & Noble bookstore on February 13, 2013 in Los Angeles, California. |
Diagnosed with leptomeningeal carcinomatosis -- in which cancer cells
metastasize into the fluid-filled membrane enveloping the brain -- the
Mary Tyler Moore star has reportedly been given three to six months to
live. But Harper told Guthrie, "'Incurable' is a tough word . . . I'm
not dying until I do. I promise I won't."
Harper, who played Rhoda Morganstern on The Mary Tyler Moore Show and its spinoff, Rhoda, explained she's "more than hopeful . . . I have an intention to live each moment fully."
Still, the beloved Valerie star clarified she's not in denial about the reality of her situation. "I don't mean this to be Pollyanna—I allow myself the grief."
"I also feel so much better not hiding," she says of coming clean with the public. "It feels awful damn good to be open about it, face it and see what you can do. If you die, you're not a failure. You're just somebody who had cancer. And that's the outcome."
Harper, who played Rhoda Morganstern on The Mary Tyler Moore Show and its spinoff, Rhoda, explained she's "more than hopeful . . . I have an intention to live each moment fully."
Still, the beloved Valerie star clarified she's not in denial about the reality of her situation. "I don't mean this to be Pollyanna—I allow myself the grief."
"I also feel so much better not hiding," she says of coming clean with the public. "It feels awful damn good to be open about it, face it and see what you can do. If you die, you're not a failure. You're just somebody who had cancer. And that's the outcome."
