Handling Times of Hardship
- From losing her mother to brain cancer, to battling a noncancerous brain tumor herself, to saying goodbye her beloved dog, TV host Maria Menounos has been through a lot. But she’s always been determined to be open about her experiences to help both herself and others.
- Menounos recently revealed that during her struggle to start a family, she’s also had to deal with turning down a surrogate she really connected with per her doctor’s orders.
- During any time of hardship, it's important to know that you are not alone. There's a community out there for you to be vulnerable with, if you'd like, and it's worth it to at least try to connect with some people as you face challenges, battle a disease, cope with the loss of a loved one or face anything else that requires healing.
Menounos, 43, lost her mother, Litsa, to a type of brain cancer called glioblastoma on May 3, 2021, after a lengthy battle with the disease. During that time, she faced her own health struggles when doctors discovered she had developed a golf ball-sized benign (non-cancerous) tumor that required a 7-hour brain surgery in June 2017. Then, more recently, her dog passed away, and she’s been struggling with surrogacy attempts to start a family.
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"We had an amazing surrogate and we loved her," she told TODAY. "But our fertility doctor told us that it was never going to work. We tried and tried and tried and tried."
In a previous interview with SurvivorNet, Menounos explained that she and her husband, Kevin Undergaro are trying to remain hopeful despite the long process of finding the right surrogate.
"I'm going to have to continue to go with the flow and trust that God has a plan for me. I just got to surrender to it. I've gotten pretty good at it," she said. "That was a big thing I've learned along the way. If you believe there's a plan for you whether it's the universe or god, you have to go through the motions; you have to do things that make sense: you got to go work, you got to do all these things. It's like no matter what we do, sometimes the things that we want is just not the right time. Everything has its season and its moments. Sometimes I can be impatient. Sometimes I can be like, 'Wait hello when is this going to work out? When is this going to happen?' But then I try to get right back into the mindset that I'm being protected. I'm always guided and everything has to be for my higher good."
For aspiration and inspiration through her toughest times, Menounos reminds herself of a quote from her friend Sylvester Stallone’s iconic character Rocky Balboa: 'It ain't about how hard you hit, It's about how hard you can get hit and keep moving forward.'
"I really do think about the greats in this world. They might get knocked down, but they pull themselves up and they get back in the game," she said. "I can't say I know for sure I'm always going to, but I've been grateful that I've been able to so far."
Creating Community during a Time of Healing
During any time of hardship, it's important to know that you are not alone. There's a community out there for you to be vulnerable with, if you'd like, and it's worth it to at least try to connect with some people as you face challenges, battle a disease, cope with the loss of a loved one or face anything else that requires healing. For Menounos, she’s made connections for the sake of herself and others. With her Better Together podcast, for example, she’s been able to interview all sorts of experts, healers, thought leaders and celebrities who have helped her gain a lot of "tools" for in "toolbox" to give her strength during challenging times.
"I've really leaned on it to heal me," she previously told SurvivorNet.
On top of that, she’s also helped others by sending her "cancer CliffsNotes" to people, over 100 so far, who have reached out to her about their health crises.
"I have the benefit of knowing where they are going to be mentally when I'm talking to them, and then I can pretty quickly assess what kind of level they are on; how much East meets West can they even handle; how much are they going to do outside of the norm because to me it's a complimentary thing," Menounos said. "You've got to do a little bit of everything. You have to throw the kitchen sink at it because it's so deadly."
But Menounos is definitely not the only one to create community in a time of need. Cancer warrior Kate Hervey has also touched many people by sharing her story. A young college girl, she was shocked to be diagnosed with synovial sarcoma, a rare type of cancer that tends to form near large joints in young adults, after seeing her doctor for tenderness and lumps in one of her legs.
Hervey, a nursing student at Michigan State, had to handle her cancer battle during the COVID-19 pandemic and scale back on her social activities as a high-risk patient. That's when she turned to TikTok as a creative outlet, and inspired thousands.
Inspiring College Student, 20, Builds Community on TikTok Sharing Her Cancer Journey During COVID-19
"One thing that was nice about TikTok that I loved and why I started posting more and more videos is how many people I was able to meet through TikTok and social media that are going through the same things," she says. "I still text with this one girl who is 22. If I'm having a hard time, I will text her because she will understand. As much as my family and friends are supportive, it's hard to vent to someone who doesn't know what it's really like."
Hervey is now cancer-free, and says she couldn't have done it without the love and support of her TikTok followers.
"I feel like I've made an impact on other people and they have made an impact on me through TikTok, which is crazy to say. I can help people go through what I've been going through as well." She has graciously agreed to allow SurvivorNet to use her content in order to help our community.
So while sharing your story for thousands of TikTok users might not be your thing, it's important to consider opening up to others about your struggles during a cancer battle. Even if it's with a smaller group, you never know how much the support can help you or help those you share with unless you try.
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