Positivity during Caregiving
- TV host Maria Menounos learned a lot as her mother’s caregiver during her five-year battle with brain cancer and during her battle with a non-cancerous brain tumor.
- Menounos wants her followers to know that positivity is the key to getting through tough situations.
- Other caregivers, like Jesus Trejo, have emphasized the power of positivity and laughter calling it “a game-changer.” He had to care for both of his parents when his mother was diagnosed with a cancerous brain tumor and his father later faced colon cancer.
Menounos lost her mother, Litsa, in early May to a type of brain cancer called glioblastoma after a five-year battle with the disease. She also battled a brain tumor of her own in 2017 while acting as her mother’s caregiver. Thankfully, Menounos’ brain tumor was benign, but she underwent an 8-hour surgery to have it removed.
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“I know a lot of people looked at me funny when I kept being positive in the seemingly obvious moments of my moms decline…BUT I had already learned the lesson after my own brain surgery,” Menounos wrote in her caption. “Having a positive mindset helped me get through it waaaaay easier. Had I spent the time crying and saying why me I would have FELT ALL of THAT. Instead I said why not me? Why others and not me? And quickly turned it into what it was meant to be- a moment of transformation.”
Menounos went on to explain that the most painful moments in life offer exceptional opportunities for growth. And during her mother’s battle, positivity helped her handle “a really excruciating experience with more grace.”
“We try to make everything fun..even tumors,” she wrote. “I know some thought I was being naive, or in denial, but I always believed a miracle could take place and concurrently planned mentally for the worst.”
Positivity as a Caregiver
Unfortunately, Menounos is one of many children who have had to take care of their parents during a battle with cancer. But she’s also not the only one who has learned the importance of positivity during caregiving.
Jesus Trejo is a stand-up comedian in Long Beach, California. He became a caregiver for both of his parents after his mother was diagnosed with a cancerous brain tumor and his father was later faced with colon cancer. But instead of panicking and focusing on the devastating nature of the situation, the only child stepped up to care for his parents with love and laughter. In a previous interview with SurvivorNet, Trejo explained how he put his career aside to care for his parents in their time of need while making time to smile along the way.
Stand-Up Comedian & Cancer Caregiver Jesus Trejo Reminds Us That 'Laughter is a Game-Changer'
"The only advice I have for anyone watching this is laugh and laugh often, laugh at yourself. Don't take yourself seriously. Things are already bad. Because once you do that, it's a game-changer," Trejo told SurvivorNet.
He also says the laughter itself might be brief, but "the effects of it just reverberate through your body, and can change an already bad situation into a better one."
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