In May, Maria Menounos revealed that she was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer and shared her story in an interview. A few months later, on Sunday July 9, she posted a photo on social media, different from the others.
The Greek-American presenter posed in front of a mirror wearing her swimsuit. On her abdomen, the scars from the operation, which she underwent, are referred to in an Instagram post.
See the photo:
“look back on surgery earlier this year and am grateful for the strength god blessed me with to get through and of course all of the beautiful humans that he sent to help me too! Now I see the scars that I sunscreen up carefully to protect and I smile," Maria Menounos wrote in the caption of her post.
The cancer revelation
Speaking to People magazine in early May, she said she was diagnosed with stage 2 pancreatic cancer in January. Fortunately, she underwent surgery immediately and doctors removed a 3.9cm tumor.
Maria Menounos reveals secret pancreatic cancer battle while expecting baby https://t.co/PnjZV7hW6l pic.twitter.com/ITX0LUcJkY
— Page Six (@PageSix) May 3, 2023
"I need people to know there are places they can go to catch things early," she says. "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."
It is not the first time that Maria Menounos goes through such an adventure with her health. In 2017, she underwent treatment again as she was diagnosed with a benign brain tumor.
“I was feeling so good, and then I got slapped in the face with a new diagnosis," says Menounos, who began suffering from severe leg cramps last June. "I'd scream out loud, I was inconsolable."
Before diagnosing the cancer in her pancreas, the doctors thought that her pains were caused by the fact that she suffers from type 1 diabetes, which is probably inherited from her family, as her father and her brother also suffer.
By October, "I was crushing it," says Menounos, who still takes insulin daily and wears a glucose monitor, "I felt so good. What else could go wrong?" But a month later she was back in the hospital, this time "with excruciating abdominal pain coupled with diarrhea."
The MRI revealed a 3.9 million mass in my pancreas, which turned out to be a stage 2 neuroendocrine tumor, a form of cancer.
"I'm like 'How in the freaking world can I have a brain tumor and pancreatic cancer?' " she says. "All I could think was that I have a baby coming."
Her husband was always by her side, as was her father, she says. According to her doctor, Ryan Aronin of UCLA, Maria Menounos is now in good health and will not need chemotherapy or any other treatment for the next five years.
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