Apr 16, 2014 06:18 PM EDT By Jaleesa Baulkman, UniversityHerald Reporter

Valerie Harper says she is "cautiously optimistic" about her cancer prognosis after being diagnosed with an inoperable brain tumor more than a year ago, ABC News reported.

Harper, a former "Dancing with the Stars" contestant, told the Hallmark Channel that she is content about her present condition and have hope for the future. She also clarifies what she is calling an "erroneous quote" in Closer Weekly magazine, in which she reportedly declared herself "absolutely cancer-free."

"I am not 'absolutely cancer-free.' I wish I were," Harper said. "Right now what I am is cautiously optimistic about my present condition and I have hope for the future."

Harper, 74, was diagnosed on Jan. 15, 2013 with leptomeningeal carcinomatosis, a rare and lethal condition that occurs when cancer cells spread into the fluid-filled membrane surrounding the brain. 

Doctors told her she could have just a few more months to live. However, a few weeks ago, her medical team was astounded by her test results.

"My last scans have been positive, and my doctors are very happy," she told Closer Weekly. "(The oncologist) looked at the scans and said, 'Oh my God, Valerie, this is very encouraging!'"

"I'm now the poster child for not believing everything I'm told," Harper said.

Harper said her doctor will not use the term "remission."

He likes to say, 'I give you a treatment, and it's either responsive or nonresponsive - and you are having a phenomenal response,'" she said.

Harper added she feels much better, cutting down her visits to the doctor to just once every eight weeks, and she's taking a "pulse dose" of medication once each week.

"There may come a time when I'm not feeling good," she said. "But then again, that time may never come."'

The American actress is known for her role as Rhoda Morgernstern on the 1970s television "The Mary Tyler Moore" show.

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