!["I don't think of dying. I think of being here now."](http://cdn2-b.examiner.com/sites/default/files/styles/image_content_width/hash/dd/b4/ddb4f2551deb989840cc3171cdd59ddd.jpg?itok=snCtuGk4 ""I don't think of dying. I think of being here now."")
Actress Valerie Harper, who was recently diagnosed with terminal brain cancer, is choosing to live her last days with the same optimism and grace she has led her entire life.
Harper was given three to six months to live when she was first diagnosed with leptomeningeal carcinomatosis on Jan. 15, but her husband Tony Cacciotti tried to hide the bleak prognosis from her for fear of upsetting her.
"I didn't get [the news] because my husband hid it," Valerie, 73, told The Doctors. "Poor baby. He was so bereft."
Harper will appear on the March 11 episode of "The Doctors" with her husband and former co-stars Mary Tyler Moore, Cloris Leachman and Ed Asner. During the hour, she'll share how she plans to spend her last days, and discuss leptomeningeal carcinomatosis, the rare brain cancer she's battling.
Valerie was shocked when she first received her diagnosis, but then realized she could promote cancer awareness by going public.
"I was stunned," said Harper. "And in the next minute I thought, 'This could draw more attention to cancer research.' I think there's an opportunity to help people. I don't think of dying. I think of being here now."
