Veteran TV actress Valerie Harper who has recently been diagnosed with terminal brain cancer arrives at her home in her Prius car and carries out a bouquet of flowers. (JP/JFXimages/WENN.COM) Harper enjoying remaining days

Actress Valerie Harper has used her terminal cancer diagnosis to get organised and plan for the inevitable.

The Rhoda star revealed she had been given three months to live earlier this month and she admits she is not letting her health crisis get her down.

She tells U.S. news show Access Hollywood Live, "I got immediately to the lawyer to ensure that everything was in order. Tony, my darling husband, had resisted that - he's one of those folks who's like, 'Let's not talk about funeral arrangements.' I said, 'Honey, we're 73. I think we better do something, so it doesn't fall on the kids and they don't know what to do.

"It made us get more responsible about that. I'm cleaning out closets, I am getting rid of junk. I took the Emmys (awards) out of the garage and brought them into the house to make sure I knew where they were... I'm going to the movies, I'm cooking dinner, I'm running, I'm lifting weights, I'm doing everything that I did."

And she is already seeing the benefits of her positive attitude: "I've passed my expiration date already."

The actress says she feels a "responsibility" to raise awareness of the importance of early testing for cancer following her diagnosis.

The former Mary Tyler Moore Show star was warned by doctors in January she could have just three months to live because of a rare form of terminal brain cancer.

Her diagnosis comes four years after she fought lung cancer, and Harper wants to use her health battle to promote the need for early testing.

Speaking on Piers Morgan Tonight on Tuesday, she says, "People need to get this early testing... it's so important. There's a huge amount of people, women, who are getting lung cancer who never smoked, or people that stopped smoking 20 years ago.

"I wanna get that message out, that's something I can do. I really feel this is an opportunity and also a responsibility (to raise awareness)."

Harper appeared emotional during the interview as she added, "I just want folks to see that I'm ok, that I'm not suffering, so far. There may be pain, there may be a lot of things ahead, but whatever they are they're ahead, not now."