'Thank you God!' Maria Menounos 'grateful to be alive' after cancer and brain tumour battles
TV presenter Maria Menounos has told how she feels "grateful to be alive" after battling pancreatic cancer and a brain tumour in a "crazy" six years, and she is now concentrating on motherhood after giving birth in June.
Maria Menounos feels "grateful to be alive" after battling pancreatic cancer and a brain tumour.
The 45-year-old TV presenter and her husband, Keven Undergaro welcomed their daughter Athena, six weeks, into the world in June, and Maria admitted she has gone through a "crazy" six years following various health battles, but she is "so in love" with her baby girl.
She wrote on Instagram: "Hi friends! Motherhood is going great. Athena is an Angel. She’s currently asleep on me as we get some morning light. I’m so in love it’s crazy. Thank you to all of you for the love. I look back at the last 6 years-it’s been kinda crazy. Mom gets a brain tumor, then me, two brain surgeries later, then both my parents are hospitalized with covid, then I lost my mom, then I got diagnosed with type one diabetes, then a Neuro endocrine tumor on my pancreas...some other crazy stuff in between too. (sic)"
Maria thanks God for keeping her alive to welcome a "beautiful little girl" into the world.
She added: "Kev says I maybe roll to well with the punches and I should sit back and acknowledge it all more -maybe at some point I will dig in deeper. Right now just that list makes me so grateful to be alive and to have thrived. To be here to enjoy this beautiful little girl. Thank you god! Thank you st Nectarios and Panagia. I pray all of it is behind us and only great days ahead!"
Last month, Maria admitted giving birth was the "most special moment of [her] life".
She told Us Weekly magazine: "It was the most special moment of my life. The doctor literally grabbed her and hiked her onto me. I sat with her on my chest, and Keven and I kept looking at each other like, ‘Oh, my God.’ It was just pure joy. It was like Christmas morning times a million. Athena is our miracle baby. I’m so grateful for her.
"It feels better than I could’ve ever imagined. It’s euphoric. For so long, I’ve felt something’s been missing. I’d go to kids’ birthday parties, and I’d be a little sad because I wanted my own family. And now I feel so grounded, like I finally know where I belong. The whole house is on happy crack! My dad, her Abuelita, her baby nurse, all of us just, it’s just so much love. People say you won’t care about your dogs anymore, but if I’m not squishing Athena, I’m squishing them!"
