People magazine reports on its website Wednesday that the 73-year-old actress received the news on Jan. 15. The report says she has as little as three months to live. Harper tells the magazine in a cover interview: "I don't think of dying. I think of being here now." Harper's character, Rhoda, was one of television's most beloved sidekicks during the 1970s.
Harper says the diagnosis "hit me like a sledgehammer, incurable is such a concise word. I was terrified."
When she appeared on "GMA" in January, Harper said she'd had stroke-like symptoms that had recently sent her to the hospital. What she didn't say is she had received the terminal diagnosis just days earlier.
There are moments, she told the magazine, where she feels extremely sad. She said she's happy that she's had the life that she's had.
"Life is amazing," she tells People. "Live it to the fullest. Stay as long as you can."
The Associated Press was trying to reach a representative for Harper. http://www.people.com/people/article/0,,20679402,00.html
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
