Valerie Harper, the former Mary Tyler Moore Show star, is rumored to be in the running for Dancing with the Stars, which raised some eyebrows since just months ago, she told fans that she had been diagnosed with a rare terminal cancer and was given months to live. However, in a new interview with the Today Show, Harper’s doctor said that the cancer is “close to remission.”
Harper and neruo-oncologist Dr. Jeremy Rudnick sat with Today’s Meredith Vieira for an interview, clips of which aired on the show today.
“I'd say that we're getting pretty close to a remission,” Rudnick said about Harper’s cancer. “It defies the odds.”
The interview is slated to air on Sept. 19 in an NBC special that was announced in June. Harper will also talk about how she has dealt with the rare disease, called leptomeningeal carcinomatosis. She has used chemotherapy along with Chinese tea and acupuncture.
Harper and husband Tony Cacciotti learned that she is still not cured. She is still terminal, since Rudnick noted that the cancer can “develop resistance to the therapy.” However, “It's not a matter of if (the cancer becomes resistant)...it's a matter of when."
Cacciotti noted, “Going from having three months to live, or less; we're into our sixth month, and now there's even hope beyond right now we're looking at...”
“We're looking at Christmas!” Harper added.
It was reported yesterday that Harper may be competing on DWTS. ABC will announce the show’s new competitors on Sept. 4.
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