There is no joke that can save Rhoda from this diagnosis. Mary Tyler Moore could barely speak when she said she was devastated over the news. These two women have been friends for a life time. Valerie Harper, who played the wacky, whimsical Rhoda during the golden years of great TV comedy is in trouble. She has faced cancer in the past…Lung cancer and doctors think this could be related. You all know the story, the cancer cells travel through the body until they find the soil they need to dig-in and create more havoc. In Haper’s case, it’s a rare form of brain cancer…leptomeningeal carcinomatosis….cancer in the fluid-filled membrane of the brain.
“Incurable” is such a concise word—I was terrified,” she said, after hearning the doctors discovery back in mid-January. Her medical team has given her three months to live.
There was a reason Valerie Harper was so good at being “Rhoda.” She’s facing this just like her character would have…with resolve and a mind-boggling quote, ” I don’t think of dying..I think of being here now.”
But she said something else that really hit home…” Cancer makes real what we try to obscure from ourselves. We spend our lifetimes thinking, ‘I’m never going to die.’ “But cancer, says, ‘Hey, not so fast.”
Must it always get the last word?
March 8, 2013 @ 7:51 am
Very sad news………….. “The Beast” wins another round……….still lifting
March 8, 2013 @ 12:04 am
I was sad to hear all the news about Valerie…it’s another one of those “cancer sucks” moments. It’s taking another life.
My cousin just died last night from an inoperable brain tumor that he was diagnosed with over 10 years ago. They gave him 6 months to live…10+ years later, he fought his last battle, he said enough was enough.
Like so many before him, he was a warrior to the very end. Like Tommy and Valerie, it’s about their choice! Cancer doesn’t win.. it’s takes a back seat to dignity and honor, faith, love and hope. It’s how we survive! It’s how Valerie has chosen to make her path.
Rest in Peace Cuz…
March 8, 2013 @ 9:12 pm
Laurie, I am sad to learn of your cousin’s death. My heart goes out to you. May he rest forever in peace.
March 7, 2013 @ 9:43 pm
It does not always win, or so I will continue to hope.
March 7, 2013 @ 8:22 pm
I felt sad reading the news of this this morning. But reading Harper’s quote about being in the here and now buoyed me. It would be so easy to give in but to decide to make something of each moment, to live in that moment you have left, takes guts. In a way, she’s getting the last word, even though she really has no idea how much longer she will live.
I don’t think so much cancer is the great equalizer. Death is. We all know we’re going to die, we just don’t know when or how.
March 7, 2013 @ 7:47 pm
Unfortunately, in our cases, it seems to have the last word. I know I am still here but half of me is missing. I was so sad to hear about Valerie Harper today….I have always loved her work.