It’s no secret that Valerie Harper has been battling with brain cancer for over a year. What wasn’t known was just how brave she has been since being told by doctors that she wouldn’t survive for very long.
In an interview with TODAY, Harper shared a few details about her situation, remaining positive and upbeat throughout:
“I was supposed to be gone before last Easter. But when you say ‘supposed to be,’ the doctors just give their best guesstimate. What I have is incurable and terminal, but guess what? Not today,” she said .
She spoke about the fact that she was also embracing alternative medicine as part of her treatment: “I’m doing very well. The treatment that my doctors at Cedars-Sinai have me on is working, and I’m doing acupuncture and herbal tea.”
Nevertheless, Valerie Harper is not letting the situation get the better of her career-wise either. She is about to feature in a two-episode guest spot on Signed, Sealed, Delivered , a new show from Touched By an Angel producer Martha Williamson.
Williamson said about the casting of Harper in the show : “I just called Val up and said, we’re going to start this show and we want you in for the very first two episodes. I couldn’t imagine anybody better.”
As we all know, Valerie Harper has an auspicious role in the world of sitcoms having starred in The Mary Tyler Moore Show and Rhoda . Harper also shared that she is still in touch with her old friend Moore:
“I talked to Mary three or four weeks ago, just to say ‘hi,’ (and) that I’m doing well. She had offered to have a Mass said in her home for me way back when I announced that I had this incurable situation, and that was so dear.”
Remaining ever positive about her predicament Valerie Harper told Glifford and Hoda Kotb: “Whenever I go, that’s when I’m supposed to go, like all of us. But live the moment.”