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Valerie Harper, best known for playing wise-cracking neighbor Rhoda on The Mary Tyler Moore Show and her eponymous spin-off Rhoda, has been diagnosed with terminal brain cancer.

According to People, she received the fateful diagnosis in mid-January, or January 15. Her condition is called leptomeningeal carcinomatosis, a rare condition that affects as little as two percent of the general population. Her doctors say that she may have as little as three months to live.

The disease means that cancer-filled cells spread into the membrane, called the meninges, surrounding the brain. The incurable disease arrives quickly and progresses just as quickly. Because it is difficult for chemotherapy drugs to reach that area of the body, there are limitations in what doctors can do.

"This is a really complicated condition," Dr. Jeremy Rudnick, Harper's neuro-oncologist, said to People magazine. "The spinal fluid is a collection of fluid that's being circulated [through the brain] kind of like a sink. The fluid itself is growing cancer cells so they are multiplying in there. Those cells start to coat the brain." 

Ms. Harper also wrote in her memoir I, Rhoda that she suffered from lung cancer while performing in her one-woman Broadway show Looped, according to ABC News.

"I thought this is just not going to be good for comedy if the audience is out there worrying about their Rhoda," she said on Good Morning America while on the program promoting her book, while she explained why she kept her lung cancer diagnosis private. She fought that cancer with the help of chemotherapy and radiation in 2009.

The disease is characterized with stroke-like symptoms, like blurry vision, severe headaches and seizures. There is also a characteristic "belt-like" sensation around the midsection.

Harper felt that belt-like sensation in August, but doctors could not find anything wrong with her. Then, while experiencing numbness in her jaw that she described as feeling like Novocain, she went in for another round of testing during rehearsals for Looped. A third round of tests finally uncovered the diagnosis.

She is fighting the disease with chemotherapy in order to slow the progression of the illness, but she is realistic about her chances of survival. She hopes that speaking out about her diagnosis can gather more awareness about the illness.

"I don't think of dying," the 73-year-old actress said. "I think of being here now."

Valerie Harper garnered a Tony nomination for her portrayal as Broadway legend Tallulah Bankhead in Looped.

The issue of People magazine will be on sale on Friday.