Cancer-stricken Valerie Harper not saying good-bye

FRAZIER MOORE
In this undated photo provided by NBC, Valerie Harper is interview by Savannah Guthrie of NBC's "Today" at Harper's home in Los Angeles. In her first TV interview since disclosing her diagnosis last week, the 1970s sitcom star tells Guthrie that "'incurable' is a tough word." It is scheduled to air on Monday, March 12, 2013. (AP Photo/NBC)

NEW YORK (AP) — She has incurable cancer, but Valerie Harper says she's not ready to say good-bye and that she's keeping herself open to a miracle.

In her first TV interview since disclosing her diagnosis last week, the 1970s sitcom star tells the "Today" show's Savannah Guthrie that "'incurable' is a tough word."

But Harper pledges: "I'm not dying until I do."

She was recently diagnosed with a rare brain cancer. She has been told she has as little as three months to live.

Harper, now 73, won fame playing Rhoda Morgenstern on TV's "The Mary Tyler Moore Show" and its spinoff, "Rhoda." The interview is scheduled to air on NBC's "Today" on Monday.

Harper says going public with her illness "feels awful damn good."