Valerie Harper, 73, best known for portraying the kick-ass Rhoda Morgenstern from The Mary Tyler Moore Show and her own spinoff Rhoda, has been diagnosed with terminal brain cancer.
From People,
A battery of tests revealed she has leptomeningeal carcinomatosis, a rare condition that occurs when cancer cells spread into the fluid-filled membrane surrounding the brain. Her doctors say she has as little as three months left to live.
THREE MONTHS. Three freaking months. People have beaten those odds before, but it looks grim and devastating. So bad in fact that, “She says her husband briefly withheld the diagnosis from her because it was so dire.” However, Harper has a different view:
I don’t think of dying. I think of being here now.
She also battled lung cancer in 2009.
According to The Huffington Post, Ms. Harper discussed her cancer on the daytime television show The Doctors that will air Monday, March 11. Her former TV costars Ed Asner and Cloris Leachman surprised her on set.
Growing up, I watched Mary and Rhoda being awesome and wearing sick outfits on Nick At Nite, back when Nick At Nite showed actual old shows and not The Fresh Prince of Bel Air. I have nothing against The Fresh Prince of Bel Air. I’m just saying. Anyway, if you’ve never seen TMTMS or Rhoda, check it out.
I grew up watching MTM & Rhoda when it was in the first run. I am amazed by her beauty at 73. What a woman!
My mom was told she had stage four kind cancer, several brain tumors, and six months to live…3 years ago. The doctors err on the side of caution when giving short and long term prognosis (3 months or 6 month warnings), it doesn’t mean your loved one can’t survive past the assumed timeline. Everyday more than we expected is a fucking gift. Some people can really surprise doctors and exceed expectations. Granted, my mom isn’t as mobile as she was, but she still pushes on one day further, she says ‘its a guideline, not an expiration date’.
*lung not kind
If that was your prognosis, would you really want to know? Would you go out and get life by the balls or would it be a profoundly sad time? My friends lost their 5 year-old son to 2 SPnet brain tumors. That young man touched more people during his two year battle and created a legacy that is still moving people to this day – he did more at that tender age than many do with 10 times as much time. Cancer is such a hideous disease, I can’t even begin to explain… I just think that every time I would look at my son that I’d just start bawling my eyes out. That’s the kind of strength that you don’t know you’re capable of until you have no choice. It is so terribly sad, she’s a beloved TV personality :(
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