Maria Menounos, looking calm and collected now that she finally has some good health news
Who we're talking about: Maria Menounos, a 44-year-old TV presenter, actress, and occasional professional wrestler.
And the news is: Menounos is cancer-free – again. In 2017, Menounos was diagnosed with a benign brain tumor, for which she was operated. Then last year, she was diagnosed with diabetes, which runs in her family. She got that sorted also. But then this past January, Menounous discovered she has pancreatic cancer.
Fortunately, Menounos's cancer was caught at an early stage, thanks to a private testing lab’s full-body MRI. Because of this, Menounos was operated and the tumor was removed. A few days ago, Menounos announced that she is cancer-free.
Why this is a big deal: Cancer survival dramatically drops unless the cancer is caught early. For example, breast cancer has a five-year survival rate of 98% if it's caught while still localized. The number drops to just 30% once the cancer has spread to other parts of the body.
In other words, early detection super important. And it's not only cancer. Diabetes, heart disease, and many others are a similar story — the sooner they are detected and diagnosed, the easier it is to treat them and the better the outcomes are.
What's next? Menounos's experience a sign of things to come. When she was experiencing pain due to the cancer, she paid a visit to the doctor. A CT scan and extensive testing showed nothing. So Menounos took things into her own hands — she went in for a full-body MRI, provided by a new lab called Prenuvo, which finally detected the cancer.