1345 valerie harper
Valerie Harper is now looking to a future she never thought she’d have!
The 74-year-old star who was diagnosed with a rare cancer of the brain lining last January and given only three to six months to survive, exclusively shares the groundbreaking results from her latest brain scan — and it is amazingly good news!
“[My doctor] said, ‘At the rate we are going, you don’t have to worry,’” she tells Closer in an exclusive sit-down interview. “‘You will see Christmas!’”
After two promising prior scans, Valerie knew the odds were against her: “I thought, could I be so lucky to have that happen again?”
It was just seven days after being eliminated from Dancing with the Stars that Valerie had to face “D-Day,” her term for the Oct. 14 brain scan that would reveal whether her cancer had progressed.
After so many months of saying her goodbyes, Valerie arrived for her interview with Closer exulting that she is “signing up for life!”
Sharing the unexpected good news that the test showed her cancer has continued to regress, Valerie tells Closer, “I do believe in miracles.” Still, she candidly admits that, yes, she knows her health situation remains precarious. “It can turn on a dime.”
The glue that gets her through the ups and downs? Her husband of 26-years, Tony Cacciotti. And the couple isn’t shy about sharing that they’re still wildly attracted to each other – Tony even admits that they get intimate at least once a week: “The sex has always been there,” he tells the mag. That passion more than anything else, is what helps the couple to see past the bad days.
But it's clear that for the first time since her diagnosis, Valerie has real hope for her future. “We are all terminal and it’s great to face that — and then discard it,” she insists. “Don’t live in fear of dying.”
READ VALERIE'S CANDID INTERVIEW IN THE LAUNCH ISSUE OF CLOSER, ON NEWSSTANDS NOW.
