Maria Menounos Health Condition: News Anchor Maintains Positive Attitude Post-Surgery
Amid caring for her mother who had been diagnosed of brain cancer, news anchor and actress Maria Menounos found out that she had a major health condition of her own.
Back in February, Menounus went to a doctor as she thought she had an ear infection. However, upon closer inspection, the doctor found her ears to be clean, which meant there was no sign of infection.
She revealed to People that she told the doctor she had been "getting light-headed on-set and having headaches," that her "speech had gotten slurred," and that she was even having a hard time reading the teleprompter.
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Menounos's mother is currently battling stage 4 brain cancer. This led to the E! News anchor to suspect that she might have a brain tumor, just like her mom, which is why the doctor advised her to undergo an MRI. However, when she seemingly started to feel better the following week, Menounos thought that she was only being "paranoid," so the MRI kept getting delayed.
When she finally was able to undergo the test, a meningioma brain tumor the size of a golf ball was found.
The 39-year-old underwent surgery last month, on her birthday, and fortunately, the tumor was not cancerous. Neurosurgeon Dr. Keith L. Black was reportedly able to remove 99.9 percent of it.
Despite the situation with her health and her mother's, Menounous maintains a positive attitude.
"I knew from the very beginning that this was a blessing and this was a gift. I even knew it with my mom because it brought our whole family together," she also said. "I think that there have been a lot of beautiful things that have come even just from my mom's illness."
However, Menounos will be taking a break from work. She reportedly announced earlier this week that she will be stepping down as a co-anchor of E! News.
A statement from E! Entertainment President Adam Stotsky reads: "Our thoughts and support go out to Maria and her family and we wish them all the best knowing that Maria will tackle this with the same fierce dedication she is known for. We are grateful for Maria's many contributions to E! over the past three years."
