For Maria Menounos, this past year can be summed up in three words: “trauma, stress, crisis.”
In an interview with People, published Wednesday, the journalist and AfterBuzzTV CEO opened up about her secret battle with Stage 2 pancreatic cancer that she’s kept hidden from the public. Menounos has been in recovery since a January diagnosis led to her having a 3.9-cm. tumor removed from her body. Meanwhile, she and husband Keven Undergaro wait for the birth of their daughter, who will arrive via surrogate.
The tumor removal surgery was completed Feb. 16. The journalist, television presenter and host of the “Health Squad” podcast told People it is now her mission to encourage others to look into their own health problems.
“I need people to know there are places they can go to catch things early,” Menounos said. “You can’t let fear get in the way. I had that moment where I thought I was a goner — but I’m okay because I caught this early enough.”
This isn’t the first time Menounos has suffered from a major medical event. In 2017, she was treated for a benign brain tumor. The journalist also revealed that she was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes last year during a trip to the hospital. She initially made the trip to figure out the cause of her severe leg cramps. By October, Menounos was taking insulin and “crushing it.” But a month later, she was back in the hospital with “excruciating” abdominal pain. It’s this visit and the CT scan that followed that led to her cancer diagnosis.
Menounos admitted the news was especially difficult in the wake of planning for a baby. The journalist said she felt “slapped in the face with a new diagnosis … I’d scream out loud, I was inconsolable.”
Now it seems as though Menounos is on the other side of this ordeal. Both her doctor and surgeon say she is in good shape and will likely not require chemotherapy or additional treatment. She will only require annual scans over the next five years. “I’m so grateful and so lucky,” Menounos said, looking ahead to the arrival of her daughter. “God granted me a miracle. I’m going to appreciate having her in my life so much more than I would have before this journey.”
