Beloved actress Valerie Harper has explained a recent report suggesting she is now free of cancer, clarifying that she is still "not cured".

She had given an interview with Closer Weekly, and the publication has now allowed her to follow-up the Q&A with a statement dispelling confusion over its headline.

"I want to thank Closer Weekly for giving me a chance to clarify my story and, more importantly, to address the headline which states that I am cancer-free," she said. "I am not cancer-free.

Valerie Harper (WENN)

"As I have stated on many occasions, I have Leptomeningeal Carcinomatosis (Lepto), lung cancer that has traveled to the meninges around my brain. While speaking to the reporter for Closer Weekly, I was relaying a story where my doctor had told me that in his 30-year practice, I was the only Lepto patient he has seen without other cancers already present.”

The star, who last year competed on Dancing With The Stars, continued:  "I had just had my yearly full-body scan to determine if this sneaky cancer had migrated to other parts of my body. Therefore, in completing that part of the story, I told the reporter with excitement that I was cancer-free, but what I meant to say was that my full body scan revealed that I was still thankfully cancer-free.

"What all parties want to be made clear now is that while the Lepto has not spread, I am still not cured. I am a cancer patient, and I continue to fight with the hope that a cure may be just around the corner."

She concluded: "I am grateful to my fans that I am in their thoughts and prayers. That support gives me great hope."

Harper is guest-starring on Signed, Sealed, Delivered; a show airing on the Hallmark Channel, which debuts this weekend in the US.

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