Maria Menounos is opening up about her first symptoms, before her diagnosis with Stage 2 pancreatic cancer. The diagnosis came as Menounos, 42, and her husband, Kevin Undergaro, are expecting their first child via surrogate.
“How could God finally bless me with a baby after 10 years, and now I’m not going to get to meet her,” Menounos said she felt, after first hearing the diagnosis. “[My radiologist] goes, ‘You need to go to the hospital right away,’ and he’s white as a ghost and he’s shaking,” she recalled. “My eyes started to well, and I just look at him and go: ‘So I’m a goner.’”
Menounos’ cancer is a particularly rare type, called a neuroendocrine pancreatic tumor. This type is less deadly than its counterparts. She underwent surgery to remove the tumor, part of her pancreas, her spleen, 17 lymph nodes, and a uterine fibroid “the size of a baby”.
Menounos also previously had to have a benign brain tumor removed from her brain.
Now, she is encouraging others to keep on top of their own health:
“I want to sound the alarms to everybody that you have to be the CEO of your health,” she said. “You cannot give that over to anybody. That job is yours. You know your body. You know what’s going on.”
Sources:
Maria Menounos Shares Pancreatic Cancer Symptoms Her Doctors Dismissed (yahoo.com)
Maria Menounos gets emotional recalling cancer diagnosis with 1st child on the way (msn.com)
