INSIDE EDITION spoke to one woman who faced that same terminal diagnosis as Valerie Harper, but says she was told she only had months to live but one year later she is still here.
Valerie Harper is facing a tough road to recovery, and a young woman who knows exaclty what she's going through has words of hope for the ailing star.
Sasha Lee-Hocky is suffering from the same rare form of brain cancer that Valerie Harper has—Leptomeningeal Carcinomatosis.
Lee-Hockey told INSIDE EDITION, "They told Valerie she only had a few months to live. They told me the same, but look where I am now, 12 months later."
Watch more of our interview with Sasha here.
Valerie Harper's brain cancer is believed to have resulted from her lung cancer, which was diagnosed and treated four years ago.
A similar thing happened to Sasha Lee-Hockey, an Air Force intelligence worker. She was diagnosed with breast cancer three years ago. She underwent a double-mastectomy, and believed she had the disease beaten.
"We thought we were in the clear. I was considered in remission," Lee-Hockey recalls.
But she later developed the same brain cancer as Valerie Harper. The outlook was bleak.
Lee-Hockey said, "The doctors said I would live between four months and a year. That was the most common time frame."
But she refused to give up hope, turning to Dr. Santosh Kesari, a brain cancer specialist from San Diego. His treatments included radiation and chemotherapy to attack the cancer cells.
Dr. Kesari told INSIDE EDITION, "I think if we got rid of all the cells, that she will continue to improve."
"My doctors gave me a death sentence, but I'm improving!"
And this brave young woman has encouraging words for the star.
"Valerie, don't give up. Continue with your life. Hold on to the hope that there's a possibility, maybe even a probability that you will get past this."
For more information about the disease, please visit the Chris Elliott Fund.
