Maria Menounos Talks Surviving Pancreatic Cancer While Expecting Baby Via Surrogacy

Maria Menounos has had a rough year as she was diagnosed with Stage 2 pancreatic cancer and undergoing surgery all while expecting a baby via surrogacy.

“I was feeling so good, and then I got slapped in the face with a new diagnosis,” Menounos told People. “I’d scream out loud, I was inconsolable.”

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The former Extra host opened up about her health telling the magazine that she had been diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes (which runs in her family) last year. Menounos said that she “was crushing it” by October after being prescribed insulin and going on a strict diet.

However, by November, the former E! News host was back at the hospital “with excruciating abdominal pain coupled with diarrhea.” Menounos underwent more tests but the results yielded nothing.

With pain continuing to affect Menounos’s quality of life, she had more studies done and received a whole-body MRI. The results of those tests revealed she had a 3.9 cm. mass on her pancreas which resulted in being cancerous.

“I’m like ‘How in the freaking world can I have a brain tumor and pancreatic cancer?'” she said. “All I could think was that I have a baby coming.”

Catching it at Stage 2, Menounos was able to undergo surgery to “remove the tumor along with part of her pancreas, her spleen, a large fibroid and 17 lymph nodes.”

Menounos said the process “was super painful” but with good support by her side was able to overcome it. Doctors have assured the television host that she doesn’t need additional treatment aside from annual scans for the next five years.

“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 added.

Menounos is now awaiting the birth of a baby girl this summer alongside her husband Keven Undergaro.

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