Maria Menounos has future motherhood to thank as she looks back on beating cancer. The host shared with Ryan Seacrest that she looked to her future baby, being born via surrogate, for support as she navigated being diagnosed with a stage 2 pancreatic neuroendocrine tumor in January.
Maria underwent surgery three months ago to remove the mass that measured 3.9 centimeters and shared with Seacrest that she thought she was a "goner" after first hearing the diagnosis.
"When you know it's definitely something and you know what you know ... it was terrifying. It was horrifying," she reflected. "When I came to Live [With Kelly and Ryan] to announce the baby, I had just found out. ... I made a conscious decision to come."
Maria announced the exciting baby news on the TV show and shared that she almost didn't make the appearance, but chose instead to reframe the narrative and celebrate her future baby, which ultimately helped her survive the diagnosis.
"I told [my husband] Kevin 'We need to shift this narrative and we need joy. ... This baby deserves to have excitement about it and not sadness.'"
Listen back to the full interview with Maria for more and to hear all about her podcast Heal Squad x Maria Menounos: