Predictions of her lifespan are still pessimistic, but her optimism rejects them.

"Now they're saying 45, and I plan to be talking to y'all at 56," she said. "I'd rather take over the disease than let it take over me. Let's put it that way."

T-Boz has a lot left to do. This year is the 20th anniversary of when she teamed with Lisa "Left Eye" Lopes and Rozonda "Chilli" Thomas as TLC.

VH1 is producing a bio-pic about them, which means T-Boz is back in the studio working on the soundtrack.

"It's going to be hard to see who can dance like us," she said. "I don't even think I could do me again. Could I do T-Boz again the way I did it?"

The reunited group -- with a replacement for Lopes, who died in a 2002 auto accident in Honduras -- will also tour to support the release of a new album, which includes two new singles.

And T-Boz has her own song out called "Champion," with the profits going to a charity for children with blood disorders.

"There's a lot of people who have been going through what I went through and I want to help whoever I can," she said. "I want to share my story because I think God spared me for a reason. I think that I'm supposed do something with it."