Maria Menounos On Overcoming Being Diagnosed With A Brain Tumor
Maria Menounos sat down with Brian Kilmeade to discuss her career and being diagnosed with a brain tumor while she was taking care of her mother, who was battling stage 4 brain cancer, and being the correspondent for The Beverly Hills Dog Show
Maria Menounos revealed that doctors originally missed a tumor during a scan, which led it to double in size before she was diagnosed with stage-two pancreatic cancer.
The media personality, 45, was a guest on the "Not Skinny But Not Fat" podcast, where she spoke about receiving a full-body MRI in January, which led to her cancer diagnosis.
"When they found the tumor in the MRI, I said, ‘Can we go back and get the records and look at the November scan? I bet it was there’" she told host Amanda Hirsch. "And it was. At that point, it was two centimeters, and by the time they had found it, it was almost four centimeters. It had doubled in size in two months."
At the time of her diagnosis, Menounos and her husband, Keven Undergaro, were expecting their first child via surrogate.
MARIA MENOUNOS' MOTHER LITSA DIES AFTER BATTLING BRAIN CANCER: ‘CHRIST IS RISEN MOM’
Maria Menounos revealed that doctors initially missed her cancerous tumor during a scan in November. (Getty Images)
"I was just f---ing gutted," she said of receiving the diagnosis before the birth of her first daughter. "I was just guttural crying and I was like, 'I can't believe God just blessed me with a baby, I'm gonna have a baby.'"
She continued, "We were two months along, and I'm like, 'I can't believe I'm finally going to have a baby, and I'm not going to get to meet her.'"
Maria Menounos and her husband, Keven Undergaro, were expecting their first child together via surrogate at the time of the diagnosis. (Getty Images)
The former E! News corespondent shared that she's "still getting to the bottom" of how the tumor could have been missed in her first scan.
"What I've learned since is ... different scans have the ability to see different things better," Menounos said. "For this, an MRI was what's really going to see it. For other things, CAT scans are better, for other things an ultrasound's better. It's a really complicated process."
She continued, "So the radiologist went back, and he was able to see it and do an addendum and say, 'Yes, now with the knowledge it was there, we're able to see it is there.'"
Menounos had previously revealed that she had undergone a successful surgery, with doctors removing the 3.9-cm tumor.
Menounos' tumor ended up doubling in size by January. (Getty Images)
In May, Menounos explained the toll the past 12 months have had on her.
"This whole year has been trauma, stress, crisis," she said in an interview with People magazine. "I was feeling so good, and then I got slapped in the face with a new diagnosis. I'd scream out loud, I was inconsolable."
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The doctors also had previously told her she had type 1 diabetes, which runs in her family.
Once Menounos thought she was starting to heal, she returned to the hospital "with excruciating abdominal pain coupled with diarrhea."
After taking several tests and X-rays with no results, she said the pain got worse to the point she felt "like someone was tearing my insides out."
Maria Menounos was diagnosed with stage-two pancreatic cancer. (Getty Images)
Menounos was determined to find answers, which led to the whole-body MRI.
The actress’s pancreatic cancer comes after doctors discovered a golf ball-size brain tumor in 2017. She had surgery to remove the ultimately benign growth.
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While Menounos has experienced a series of extreme health conditions, she’s always looked on the bright side and feels blessed that her baby girl is on the way.
"I'm so grateful and so lucky. 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," she said.
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