The courageous Maria Menounos: her battle with her brain tumor and her mother’s brain cancer! Learn on it here!
Maria Menounos’ brain tumor surgery
American actress, journalist, and TV correspondent for ‘Today’ Maria Menounos revealed to People as a cover story that she has undergone surgery for a golf-ball-sized brain tumor (meningioma) on 8th June 2017.
She mentioned that the surgery took 7 hours to complete, was a complicated one, and was carried out by renowned neurosurgeon Keith L. Black.
The tumor was compressing her facial nerves. She also added that her surgeon was able to remove 100% of the tumor and that the tumor was benign.
She is still recovering from her motor functions. She said:
“I don’t have my balance fully yet. … My face is still numb. This is something that takes at least a month of healing, but I’m getting stronger and stronger every day and I’ll be back to normal very soon.”
Talking about her symptoms before the diagnosis, Maria said:
“I’d been getting light-headed on set and having headaches,”
She added:
“My speech had gotten slurred and I was having difficulty reading the teleprompter. I [told my doctor], ‘I know you’re going to think I’m crazy, but I think I have a brain tumor like my mom.”
Maria’s treating doctor has told her that there is a 6-7% chance that the tumor may recur. Maria who is recuperating at home post-surgery said:
“But I’ll take those odds any day.”
Maria has decided to step down from her anchoring post on E! due to her health issue. She said:
“For me, I saw it as a huge blessing and a huge gift because I needed to change my life.”
Maria Menounos also further said:
“I just want to be still for a bit and see what I’m supposed to be in this world. For me, sharing this story is important on so many levels.”
Recalling her time when she approached the doctor for evaluation and opinion, Maria said:
“We’re caretakers as women and we put ourselves last. I tell people all the time if your car is making a weird noise, you take it to the mechanic. How come when our body is making weird noises, we ignore it? I’m so lucky that I went to the doctor and raised the alarm.”
Maria also thanked her doctors on Twitter, referring to Dr. Ryan Aronin, she said:
“You were so thorough&thank u for … not making me feel like I was crazy to think I had a Brain tumor.”
Why did she not disclose the news of her tumor to her family?
Litsa Menounos, Maria’s mother is suffering from stage 4 brain cancer. She is under treatment for it and stable at present. So while her family was already struggling and battling with this cancer ailment at home, Maria’s brain tumor diagnosis was also made. However, she could not gather the courage to break the news of her tumor to her family. Maria told People:
“Deciding to tell [them] was the toughest part,”
She added:
“If my mom was stable, it would have been easier. But because her tumor was growing [at the time], it was really depressing. It was awful because we were all living in this house and keeping this secret.”
Maria broke the bad news to her parents 3 days before the surgery day. She went to their room with her fiancé broadcast writer Keven Undergaro, 51, sat down with them and told:
“I want you to understand that you have brain cancer, but not all tumors are cancerous. We found a tumor in me. We’re going to have surgery on Thursday.”
Her parents were shocked and started crying. However, Maria and her fiancé kept reassuring them that everything would be fine.
After the surgery, Maria admitted that she draws inspiration from her mom. Maria explained:
“She has smiled through the whole thing. She’s always been positive. Always ‘I feel great,’ just a champ. My goal was just to be as happy and calm as possible because I didn’t want it to be hard on everybody. I really prayed, ‘Please God give me the strength that my mom had.’ Because she gave us that gift.”
Maria resigns…
Maria had joined E! News in 2014 and had commenced co-hosting the news show in 2015. With all these medical problems with her and her mother, Maria resigned from her job. While stepping down, Maria thanked her employer and colleagues. She said:
“I had such an amazing time co-hosting with Jason Kennedy and working everyday with the wonderful roster of talent on the show including producers, staff and crew. It was such a special, good-hearted group and one I’ll always consider family.”
Adam Stotsky, the President of E! Entertainment gave an official statement. It read:
“Our thoughts and support go out to Maria and her family and we wish them all the best knowing that Maria will tackle this with the same fierce dedication she is known for. We are grateful for Maria’s many contributions to E! over the past three years.”
Read the full bio of Maria Menounos here
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