Many of us reveled in the days when our Monday nights would kick off with, “My name is Rhoda Morgenstern.” Ever since breaking out with her acerbic but compassionate character Rhoda on The Mary Tyler Moore Show, which begat her nominal spinoff (which opened each week with the aforementioned proclamation), Valerie Harper has been a beacon of courage and strength on the small screen. Maintaining the fortitude that she has carried with her throughout her long career, Harper will pay a visit to the medical television series The Doctors to speak openly about her recent diagnosis with terminal brain cancer.
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The Hollywood Reporter reports that Harper will be appearing on the show, hosted by reality television mainstay Dr. Travis Stork, along with her husband Tony Cacciotti, and her friends and former Mary Tyler Moore costars Cloris Leachman and Ed Asner. Following a bout with lung cancer several years back, 73-year-old Harper discovered that she would be facing the even more serious disease in January. “I didn’t get [the prognosis] because my husband hid it,” Harper said during taping of the episode. “Poor baby — he was so bereft.”
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After meeting with Harper, who was given between three and six months to live as of her January diagnosis, Dr. Stork expressed an admiration for the actor’s spirit. “I have to tell you I am blown away by her resilience and her resolve in the face of such a dire, dire diagnosis.” Harper will be sharing this impressive temperament with the world come her Monday appearance on The Doctors.
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[Photo Credit: Joseph Marzullo/WENN]
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