Valerie Harper

Cancer Type – Lung/Brain

Bio – Valerie Harper the famous television actress starred in The Mary Tyler Moore Show is a lung cancer survivor and brain cancer thriver. Read her story here…

Short Story – Valerie Harper, best known for her work on The Mary Tyler Moore Show as Rhoda Morgenstern in the 1970’s, beat the odds with lung cancer in 2009, however revealed she was battling terminal brain cancer in 2013. Her diagnosis of brain cancer or more specifically leptomeningeal carcinomatosis which is a rare form of brain cancer and is also incurable has not stopped Valerie Harper even for a minute. She continues to take on new projects and can be seen her first short film since being diagnosed called “My Mom and the Girl”

The TV icon was quoted at a Cancer Research Foundation Hope Gala, “Life is amazing, live it to the fullest. Stay as long as you can.” Harper wants to live until she is 102. She focuses on a positive mental attitude and her health. After being told she had months to live, Harper celebrates everyday that she is living a happy life despite still having the disease. Once given 3 months too live has now turned into 5-years and there is no sign of that changing anytime soon. She credits her caregiver and husband, Tony Cacciotti for “taking care of everything including driving her to and from every rehearsal, appointment and premier. Shout-out to Tony for the great example of love and sacrifice on behalf of someone we all love.

Currently her brain cancer is not spreading or making progress. Keep living Valerie! You are an inspiration to us all and such a shining example that sometimes a well meaning medical staff making predictions can be absolutely WRONG.

Valerie Harper is a four-time Primetime Emmy Award winner. Her notable film roles include Freebie and the Bean(1974), and Chapter Two (1979), both of which garnered her Golden Globe Award nominations.

Facebook Page – https://www.facebook.com/thevalerieharper

Image Credits – By photograph: Maggie from Palm Springs, United States derivative work: Wildhartlivie (cropped from Valerie_harper.jpg) [CC BY 2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons