Maria Menounos has reflected on how her 10-year long journey to start a family ultimately helped save her life – detailing how she ultimately discovered she was suffering from cancer after embarking on a rigorous health journey in a desperate bid to conceive a child.
The 45-year-old journalist conceived her first ‘miracle’ child via surrogate last year – only to be diagnosed with pancreatic cancer shortly after.
Speaking candidly with DailyMail.com, the former E! host – who just welcomed daughter, Athena, with her husband, Keven Udergaro, – explained that the decision to focus and improve her health during her struggle with infertility helped lead to the discovery a tumor on her pancreas.
It all began when the star had a benign brain tumor removed in 2017 amid her ongoing fertility struggles, which ultimately inspired her to launch her wellness and self-improvement podcast, Heal Squad.
Blessing: Maria Menounos believes her 10-year long journey to start a family ultimately helped save her life
‘It was a wake up call for me to focus on my health and make a lot of life adjustments,’ the AfterBuzz TV co-founder explained. ‘There was no room for a baby at that time to come into my life because it was so full of travel and work.’
She continued: ‘The health journey obviously spun out into my show where I’m able to talk to the best healers in the world. It’s about improvement overall, but very heavily focused on health and wellness.
‘That actually saved my own life because it wasn’t for the show because it wasn’t for the show I may never have been approached to do that full body MRI. And that’s where I discovered this large tumor on the pancreas that I had.’
The former Extra presenter previously revealed that doctors missed her tumor during a scan in November last year before she was diagnosed with stage-two pancreatic cancer during a full-body MRI in January.
Maria underwent surgery a successful surgery to remove a 3.9-centimeter tumor, but because of the cancer’s spread she also had to have a fibroid [a tumor of smooth muscle and connective tissue], her spleen and 17 lymph nodes removed, which was how she earned the tiny scars dotting her stomach.
Luckily, her cancer was caught early enough to keep her from undergoing further treatment such as chemotherapy or radiation.
Maria admitted: ‘I’m just grateful because we caught it so early. They were able to remove everything and then I got a clean bill of health. There was no cancer spread anywhere. All of that set me up for the greatest gratitude ever and and for this journey moving forward.’
She previously told People that the health scare made her fall into despair and she initially feared she wouldn’t live long enough to meet her baby daughter.
‘When you are met with a [potential] death sentence everything changes,’ she explained.
Health first: The media personality explained that the decision to focus on her health during her struggle with infertility helped lead to the discovery a tumor on her pancreas in January
Scary moment: Maria revealed in May that she had had part of her pancreas, her spleen, a fibroid tumor and 17 lymph nodes removed after being diagnosed in January
Reflecting on her decision to reveal her cancer battle while still expecting the arrival of her daughter, Marie admitted she feared people might judge her.
‘I was nervous to even talk about this last round because people are going to think I’m this sick person but I’m a really healthy, vibrant person,’ she began. ‘Just these odd things have happened. It’s always scary to share such personal information. But at the same time, I saw how much the brain tumor story helped people discover they had a brain tumor.’
The former One Tree Hill star continued: ‘I just see how much help people need in the medical world so if I can open their eyes to needing second opinions on their reports that’s great.
‘Because obviously I’ve talked about the fact that I went to the doctors in November, and they didn’t see [the tumor], and it was two centimeters at the time and it had doubled in size by two months later in January.’
Maria added: ‘So for me, I knew that overall it was more important to tell the story. And it’s really hard to keep secrets like that. I hate it.
‘I knew I had to get to the other side of it before I started to alarm people and had people worrying. It was a blessing that we got over to the other side quickly.’
Opening up about her first month as a mother, the former E! host gushed: ‘Motherhood is amazing. It’s such an interesting, joyous, amazing experience… It’s been the most amazing month of my life. I am ecstatic.
‘I feel like it’s Christmas morning every time I get to see her and wake up with her and feed her and change her and all the things, it’s just unbelievable.’
Previous scare: Maria previously had a benign brain tumor removed in 2017, which led to the launch of her podcast, Heal Squad
Growing family: The TV host and her husband Keven Undergaro (center) announced the birth of their daughter Athena on July 19; pictured with Maria’s father Constantinos
On July 19, the TV host delighted fans when she confirmed the birth of Athena with a stunning Us Weekly cover shoot.
The star has been married to Keven since 2017 but after a decade of fertility issues led to IVF treatments, the pair eventually welcomed their ‘miracle baby’.
The health scare followed a diagnosis of type one diabetes in June 2022. The conditions were somewhat related, as it was painful cramps she suffered that led her to get the diabetes diagnosis.
Maria had previously opined that chronic stress she suffered may have led to the development of both her pancreatic cancer and also the benign brain tumor that she had removed in 2017.
Elsewhere, Maria’s own mother Litsa battled stage-four brain cancer in 2016 before she tragically died in May 2021 aged 66.
Heal Squad x Maria Menounos is available to stream on all major podcast platforms.
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