Maria Menounos Talks Surviving Cancer arsenic a Soon-To-Be Mom

You cognize however your ma just knows things? When you person breathtaking news, erstwhile you're having a atrocious day, erstwhile you're desperately trying to support thing from her? She just...knows. 



Well, that genuinely ne'er goes away.

A twelvemonth aft Maria Menounos' ma Litsa Menounos died from encephalon cancer, she came done a mean large and clear. "She was like, ‘Maria's not focusing capable connected her health,'" the 44-year-old recalled successful an exclusive interrogation with E! News. "I'm like, 'This is each I do. I person a wellness and wellness podcast! What americium I doing wrong?'"

Yeah, a mother's intuition is never wrong.
 
In January, after months of searching for answers arsenic to wherefore she felt terrible limb and abdominal pain, the Heal Squad host was diagnosed with Stage 2 pancreatic cancer. The pursuing month, doctors successfully removed a astir 4-inch tumor on with portion of her pancreas, spleen, a ample fibroid and 17 lymph nodes. Today—thanks to aboriginal detection and a small assistance from Mom—Maria doesn't request chemotherapy oregon radiation session, conscionable regular scans.

"I wanted my ma successful that moment," she recalled portion holding backmost tears, "and I wished I had her."

The emotions—"I was connected my knees"—continued to came successful waves. "When I heard a wide connected my pancreas, I was like, ‘I'm successful a batch of trouble,'" she said. "I retrieve I was like, ‘I don't understand.'"

Because this was expected to beryllium her champion twelvemonth yet. After struggling to conceive for a decade, she and hubby Keven Undergaro announced Feb. 7 that they are expecting a babe miss via surrogate this summer. But as Maria recalled, each she could deliberation was, "'How could I yet get blessed with a babe and past I'm not going to get to conscionable her? This doesn't marque sense.'"

Yet specified is life. When everything is expected to enactment out, you're pitched a scary freakin' curveball. But alternatively than unrecorded successful fear, she borrowed her mom's patented just-keep-persevering determination.

"I said to myself, ‘You don't cognize however the communicative ends,'" the erstwhile E! big shared. "So galore of america are utilized to catastrophizing and the things we catastrophize don't adjacent travel to fruition. So, I made that shift."

That meant putting an accent connected celebrating what was to come. Ahead of sharing the babe news, "I said ‘Keven, we request to bash this truthful that we displacement the communicative successful our location to joyousness and not ‘Oh my God, I mightiness not conscionable her.'"

And she's been maintaining that half-glass-full cognition ever since. Though Mother's Day tin beryllium a mixed container for anyone who has experienced the nonaccomplishment of a parent, Maria looks astatine it arsenic a clip to grant the 42 years she did get with her. 

"My mom's no. 1 privation was that I support smiling," she shared. "I don't cognize if she's forcing it from the different side, but it works. I'm grateful for what I had with her. I cognize it's going to get ace dense erstwhile this babe comes to not person her, but you support moving forward. That's it. That's each we tin do."

Moving guardant means taking the toolbox her parent left behind and continuing to capable it up. "My ma was precise protective," Maria noted. "She ne'er fto america slumber implicit astatine anyone's house. She near america with a babysitter possibly a mates of times. I can't accidental that's going to happen, but I cognize that I'm going to transportation a batch of the protective measures she had astir me. She made definite I was harmless and I'm going to marque definite my girl is safe."

Her small one will perceive about Yiayia—"I conscionable privation her to get to cognize however astonishing my ma was"—and acquisition her beingness regular erstwhile she sees the photograph of Litsa, clad successful a chef's hat, hanging successful Maria and Keven's kitchen. 

"She's truthful vibrant and smiling and happy," Maria described. "Every morning, I enactment my manus connected her bosom and I archer her I emotion and miss her. I spot her pictures passim the house, and it's ever pictures of her healthy. That helps slice the memories of her without her hairsbreadth and looking ill. That has truly helped me."

When she does consciousness a question of grief, of fear, of anxiousness approaching, Maria remembers the lessons she's learned from the experts connected her podcast: Take it a time by day. Heck, adjacent infinitesimal by minute. 

"I take wonderment implicit worry," she admitted. "I wonder what it's going to beryllium similar erstwhile the doc gives maine bully news. I wonder what it's going to beryllium similar erstwhile I get past this, and I heal. Every clip I bash it, it works."

Because, if thing else, her mom taught her beingness was for the living. And now, arsenic she said, "I'm going to unrecorded it. If I can, I will."