Valerie Harper On Her Cancer Battle: 'I Have Hope For the Future' "Right now what I am is cautiously optimistic," the former DWTS contestant said.

April 16, 2014 -- Valerie Harper was excited to share news of her improving health with a magazine this week.

However, the former "Dancing with the Stars" contestant is clarifying what she is calling an "erroneous quote" in Closer Weekly magazine, in which she reportedly declared herself "absolutely cancer-free."

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

Last March, Harper, 74, was diagnosed with an inoperable brain tumor. At the time, 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.

"[The oncologist] looked at the scans and said, ‘Oh my God, Valerie, this is very encouraging!'" she said. "I’m now the poster child for not believing everything I’m told."

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Though Harper, who will appear on the Hallmark Channel's new series, "Signed, Sealed, Delivered," said that 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 — she noted that she feels much better. She's also 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."'

ABC News has reached out to Closer Weekly magazine for comment but did not yet receive a response.