Maria Menounos however remembers the excruciating abdomen agony she felt soon after taking in a farro salad on a flight a year ago.
The Tv persona didn’t know it then, but she had a tumor expanding on her pancreas — a rare kind of pancreatic cancer that was finally diagnosed in January 2023. Medical professionals originally told her she was great, but she saved pushing for answers to make clear signs like bloating, diarrhea and the hurting tummy on the plane.
“It was like that sort of soreness where you felt like you were being heading to explode within,” Menounos, 45, recalls to Nowadays.com.
“I believed it was the farro. I imagined that I need to be acquiring definitely gluten intolerant and my belly just was not managing this nicely.”
In 2022, she underwent an endoscopy and a colonoscopy to try out to determine out her digestive difficulties, but absolutely nothing came up. A CT scan also did not uncover anything, with the success describing her pancreas and other organs as searching “unremarkable,” a great factor in the healthcare environment.
But Menounos retained having signs. In November 2022, she remembers becoming buckled in excess of in suffering.
“That’s why I continue to keep expressing to persons: If the symptoms persist, so need to you,” she says.
“You have to be your own advocate and you have to continue to keep pushing. It is exhausting, but your everyday living definitely relies upon on it.”
In January, she decided to get a total-entire body MRI from a private business, which exposed she had a 3.9-centimeter mass on her pancreas. A 2nd MRI purchased by her health practitioner verified it. Menounos was later advised the CT scan skipped the tumor for the reason that it did not show it as obviously as the MRI.
November is Pancreatic Most cancers Recognition Month and Menounos is starring in a public services announcement unveiled by the Pancreatic Cancer Action Network (PanCAN) on Nov. 1.
The campaign highlights the great importance of early detection, noting it can improve the class of the ailment and increase the possibilities of survival.
By lending her voice, Menounos joins other perfectly-recognised persons impacted by pancreatic most cancers — including Lisa Niemi Swayze, whose husband, actor Patrick Swayze died of it in 2009 — to deliver attention to the warning indications.
“With a disorder as tricky as pancreatic most cancers, which has no conventional screening take a look at and imprecise indicators, we are pretty grateful to high-profile men and women these kinds of as Maria who are prepared to so bravely share their tales to increase recognition about the importance of early detection for survival,” Julie Fleshman, president and CEO of PanCAN, tells Today.com.
“Her prognosis illustrates the truth that pancreatic cancer does not discriminate.”
What are the signs or symptoms of pancreatic most cancers?
The pancreas is a 6-inch long gland that lies among the tummy and the backbone, in accordance to the National Cancer Institute. It assists the system split down food stuff and regulate blood sugar.
About 95% of pancreatic cancers start in exocrine cells, which develop the digestive “juices.” This is identified as pancreatic adenocarcinoma. It is stealthy and fatal, with an general 5-year survival amount of 12%, in accordance to the American Most cancers Culture. By the time it’s found, it has generally by now unfold so surgical procedure is not an selection for most people.
Pancreatic most cancers symptoms can be vague, but PanCAN urges people today to pay notice to these warning signals:
- abdominal or mid-back ache
- jaundice
- unexplained fat decline
- nausea
- loss of urge for food
- improve in stool
- current onset of diabetes
Menounos was identified with a pancreatic neuroendocrine tumor — a considerably fewer prevalent and considerably less intense variety of the most cancers that begins in endocrine cells, which make hormones. The general five-year survival rate is 53%. Signs depend on the type of hormone the cells develop and can include acid reflux, burning stomach agony or jaundice.
“I genuinely motivate any person who’s owning any steady pain or indicators like diarrhea, bloating, fuel or constipation — you have to look deeper. Something’s going on,” she states.
“A ton of people today just want to shush their bodies and go again to do the job and go back to daily life and faux it is not going on. I’ve been there.”
Daily life immediately after surgical procedures
Menounos, who is also a brain tumor survivor, advises others to look for out a 2nd belief, modify medical doctors and thrust for much more exams if the symptoms keep on.
In February 2023, Menounos experienced the tumor surgically eliminated, as very well as element of her pancreas, her spleen, a fibroid and 17 lymph nodes. The cancer hadn’t spread any place and she did not have to go through any other treatment.
Right now, Menounos says she’s carrying out properly and has a good prognosis. She proceeds to keep vigilant for any symptoms by maintaining a overall health journal on her mobile phone. Menounos basically tends to make notes of anything at all she notices — any changes in stool, power stages or urge for food — so that she remembers how extensive it is been going on. She’ll get a PET scan each individual calendar year to observe for any recurrence.
Meanwhile, Menounos is taking pleasure in motherhood, contacting her 4-month-old daughter, Athena, “the enjoy of my life” and “the very best drugs.”
“She’s going to be taught that the No. 1 detail in her existence is to be wholesome, and then she can reach and do something she wishes from there,” Menounos states.
“I imagine that my future chapter of my life is heading to be the healthiest since I’ve been forced to actually reevaluate my wellbeing in such a deep way. It is modified the class of all the things.”
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