Valerie Harper Health Update: ‘Rhoda’ Star’s Family Launches GoFundMe Page For Help With Her Medical Expenses

After beating lung cancer in 2009 and then being diagnosed with leptomeningeal carcinomatosis in 2013, Valerie Harper has been able to live with this cancer for the last six years. Harper’s husband, Tony Cacciotti, and close friend, Deanna, have launched a GoFundMe Page to ask for financial help with Harper’s costly cancer treatments.

When diagnosed with leptomeningeal carcinomatosis, Harper said that the doctors told her she only had three months to live. However, Harper has turned those three months to six years and has been taking treatment after treatment, which isn’t always covered by her insurance.

“[Valerie] was diagnosed with leptomeningeal carcinomatosis — a condition that occurs when cancer cells spread into the fluid-filled membrane surrounding the brain, known as the meninges,” Deanna wrote on the GoFundMe Page. “Valerie has defied all odds and continued working and enjoying each day years beyond what the doctors expected.”

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Harper had a hit role as Rhonda Morgenstern on The Mary Tyler Moore Show and Rhoda in the 1970s. In 2013, she danced through her disease as a contestant on Dancing with the Stars.

“Valerie has been grateful over the years for the medical breakthroughs along this difficult journey but insurance doesn’t cover everything,” Deanna wrote. “Valerie is currently taking a multitude of medications and chemotherapy drugs as well as going through extreme physical and painful challenges…This GoFundMe initiative from Tony, is to ensure she receives the best care possible.”

This GoFundMe Page first launched on July 8 and has received over 6,000 shares online since then from her family, friends and even biggest fans. So far, the page has also raised over $61,000 in just  ten days.