[Summary]
Veteran TV host Maria Menounos is inspiring people to take care of their bodies just ahead of the new year, sharing her health habits on social media and admitting how hard she has been working to heal from various medical issues, such as pancreatic cancer, which she beat in February during her pregnancy.
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“I have started to really be consistent with my wellness routines in 2023, and I can’t wait to keep it going in 2024!” the Heal Squad podcast host concluded. “What step will you incorporate into your routine?”
Maria Menounos’ Health Challenges
Earlier this year, Maria Menounos went public about overcoming stage two pancreatic cancer, which followed a 2017 brain tumor scare and surgery, losing her mom to brain cancer in 2021, and her decade-long fertility struggle.
Leading up to her pancreatic cancer diagnosis, Menounos began suffering from major leg cramps in June 2022, a symptom that sparked her to go to the hospital. Then Menounos learned she had type 1 diabetes, which runs in her immediate family.
After getting prescribed insulin and changing her diet, Menounos reported feeling much better by last October.
The following month, she ended up back in the hospital with diarrhea and “excruciating abdominal pain.” Despite the pain and intense discomfort, doctors told her everything was “fine” with her body, but weeks later, she began feeling as if “someone was tearing my insides out.”
A full-body MRI and a biopsy revealed she had a stage 2 pancreatic neuroendocrine tumor, a type of cancer that forms in the pancreas, according to the National Cancer Institute.
Thankfully, due to Menounos’ cancer being discovered somewhat early, she was able to get the tumor, her spleen, part of her pancreas, 17 lymph nodes, and a large fibroid removed via surgery on Feb. 16 of this year.
“It was super painful,” she told PEOPLE in a May interview. “I couldn’t move or lift myself up.”
Thankfully, her doctor and surgeon said she would not need to undergo chemotherapy or other forms of treatment.
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Menounos will continue getting yearly scans for the next five years. Although there were some “tough days,” she said on social media she is “grateful” for the good ones and being able to overcome cancer.
Practicing Mindfulness
Many survivors like Menounos tell us that they incorporate mindfulness into their cancer recovery experiences.
Shannon Masur, who was diagnosed with colon cancer and Lynch Syndrome, says she had never meditated before she was diagnosed. “I thought it would be such a challenge. But it really wasn’t because [my guide] has taught me how to … when a thought comes in, to feel it, feel the fear, but let it go after a few seconds.”
Getting negative thoughts and energy out of your mind can make a real difference during a cancer journey, though actual data on the benefits of integrative medicine is often hard to pinpoint.
Feel the Fear, and Let it Go — Meditation for Cancer Survivors
In the case of meditation, there is a good deal of high quality scientific research demonstrating the benefits of meditation for people with cancer.
According to the American Society of Clinical Oncology, there is data showing that meditation creates “reductions in psychological distress in patients with lung cancer, improves mood and general well-being in patients across several cancer diagnoses, as well as enhances psychological functioning and mindfulness in partners of cancer patients.”
Check out SurvivorNet’s guided meditation to embrace some mindfulness of your own.
A Guided Meditation for the SurvivorNet Community
In this video, Dr. Brian Berman, director of the Center for Integrative Medicine at University of Maryland, takes us through a guided meditation. Ideally, Dr. Berman recommends using this relaxation technique once or twice a day or for 10 to 15 minutes a day in order to really begin experiencing the benefits that come from meditation.
Contributing by SurvivorNet staff.
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