Maria Menounos reveals treatment for stage 2 pancreatic cancer

The TV regular is expecting a baby girl this summer via surrogate.
Maria Menounos (Daniel Leal-Olivas/PA)
PA Archive
Alex Green3 May 2023
The Weekender

Sign up to our free weekly newsletter for exclusive competitions, offers and theatre ticket deals

I would like to be emailed about offers, event and updates from Evening Standard. Read our privacy notice.

TV presenter Maria Menounos has revealed she was treated for stage 2 pancreatic cancer.

The 44-year-old host of US programmes including E! News and Access Hollywood was diagnosed in January and underwent successful surgery to remove a 3.9cm tumour.

Speaking to People magazine, Menounos, who was previously treated for a benign brain tumour in 2017, described how starting in June last year she suffered a series of health issues.

 

She began having severe leg cramps and was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes, which runs in her family.

Doctors prescribed her insulin and she went on a strict diet while monitoring her glucose levels.

A month later she was back in hospital with “excruciating abdominal pain coupled with diarrhoea”.

A CT scan and further testing showed nothing but on a flight several weeks later the pain became so bad it was like “someone was tearing my insides out”, she said

After a whole body MRI the mass on her pancreas was discovered.

A subsequent biopsy confirmed it was a stage 2 pancreatic neuroendocrine tumour.

She was given a good prognosis and underwent surgery in February to remove the mass alongside part of her pancreas, her spleen, a large fibroid and 17 lymph nodes.

Menounos, who is expecting a baby girl this summer via surrogate with husband Keven Undergaro, told People: “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.”

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in