Like many people from outside USA, I don’t really know anything about Maria Menounos. For those in the same boat, let me confirm she is a very well-known personality in USA. A journalist, television presenter and actress. She has hosted Extra and E! News; she was a TV correspondent for Today, Access Hollywood, and co-hosted the Eurovision Song Contest 2006 in Athens, Greece. She also co-created and is currently CEO of online podcast series network AfterBuzz TV. She is currently signed to WWE where she has served as an ambassador since 2013. She hosts the podcast ‘Conversations with Maria Menounos‘. She also has an impressive website here. All in all, she looks like an impressive and inspiring person.
On May 3rd 2023, the News broke that she survived “Pancreatic Cancer” and that headline is currently being shared hundreds of times around the internet. This will go on for days and by default there will be a lot of awareness for Pancreatic Cancer coming out of this news. “Surviving” pancreatic cancer is a big deal when you look at the prognostic data, i.e. it’s an eyecatching headline.
The story was an exclusive from US publication/website People. You can read it here (the headline is theirs not mine) – click on the blue link below.
Maria Menounos Reveals She Survived Pancreatic Cancer (people.com)
I sincerely hope Maria will recover from her surgery and get back to normal life. I wish Maria and her husband Keven, the very best ahead of the arrival of their baby girl, being born via surrogate this summer.
I also wish her the best for the recovery and hope she is getting the best attention and care from doctors who really understand Pancreatic Neuroendocrine Tumors, particularly as she had a brain tumor removed in 2017 and there is mention of a ‘fibroid’. Given that additional information, I hope she has been, or will be, tested for MEN1 just to be on the safe side. I have received many similar comments/messages from other members of the Neuroendocrine Cancer community.
When you dig into the detail, you will see that she was actually diagnosed with a Neuroendocrine Tumor of the Pancreas, ergo, a totally different cancer. You might be thinking ‘so what’ but my point is that the because of the headline, the context of all discussions will be that she has survived a cancer with a 5-year survival rate of around 10% rather than the much higher survival rate figure found in pancreatic Neuroendocrine Tumors (on the basis that almost certainly has a well differentiated NET at an early stage). Consequently, Neuroendocrine Cancer will lose out on awareness just as it did with Steve Jobs and Aretha Franklin (and probably many others we don’t even know about).
So how did this happen? What are the sources of the words and terms used in this story?
You can see from the link above, it’s an interview and so while the source might seem to be People, they probably would have been paraphrasing the interview from words Maria herself has said. Perhaps Maria is quoting from her written medical information or quoting from her doctor. Perhaps People decided on the headline. I doubt if this will ever be made clear.
It does mention Neuroendocrine Tumor in the text, “……a 3.9 cm. mass on her pancreas, with a subsequent biopsy confirming that it was a Stage 2 pancreatic neuroendocrine tumor, a form of cancer. ” But the headline is so key to how others will interpret this news, many people only read the headline and scroll on. Many stations have been reporting it adding a “what you need to know about pancreatic cancer” section, citing statistics and other medical information about a totally different cancer than the one she actually has which is so different in prognostic and therapy terms. Hopefully downstream, reporting will become more accurate. Perhaps the big US NET organisations will make contact with Maria and help with that.
What can we do to correct the record? Not a lot but ….
1. If you’re on X (formerly twitter) and following me @ronnyallan1, then seek out this tweet and retweet or join in the thread.
2. You could contact People direct to explain why their article headline is misleading. Their contact details to send feedback on content is an email to feedback@people.com. If you would rather send them a letter, you can reach them at 225 Liberty Street, 7th Floor, New York, NY 10281.
3. Share this post so others get the right info.
4. Also share this post on my main Facebook page – click here
I am not a doctor or any form of medical professional, practitioner or counsellor. None of the information on my website, or linked to my website(s), or conveyed by me on any social media or presentation, should be interpreted as medical advice given or advised by me.
Neither should any post or comment made by a follower or member of my private group be assumed to be medical advice, even if that person is a healthcare professional. Some content may be generated by AI which can sometimes be misinterpreted. Please check any references attached.
Please also note that mention of a clinical service, trial/study or therapy does not constitute an endorsement of that service, trial/study or therapy by Ronny Allan, the information is provided for education and awareness purposes and/or related to Ronny Allan’s own patient experience. This element of the disclaimer includes any complementary medicine, non-prescription over the counter drugs and supplements such as vitamins and minerals.
Thanks for reading.
Blog Facebook. Like this page please.
Personal Facebook. Like this page please.
Awareness Facebook Like this page please.
Follow me on X (formerly twitter)
Check out my online presentations
Check out my WEGO Health Awards
Crinetics Announces First Patient Dosed in Phase 1/2 Trial Evaluating CRN09682 for the Treatment of Neuroendocrine Tumours and Other Somatostatin Receptor 2-Expressing Tumours Read the
Here is the monthly summary of December 2025 on RonnyAllan.NET – Every share helps someone understand or even work towards a diagnosis, discovery of the
Summary of 2025 from Ronny It was a good year for my advocacy work but a difficult year personally which had some impact on my
15 Christmas celebrations since diagnosis. A thankful statement My Facebook memories today are full of Christmas activities including my first Christmas following diagnosis of advanced
A Global first for NET. Omni 128cm Total Body PET at the Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre in Melbourne Australia. According to Professor Michael Hofman, they
My diagnosis came with many strange words including, “carcinoid” and “neuroendocrine” ……… can you spell that please, I said to the doctor. I had a
Ronny Allan’s ‘PoNETry’ © series can be shared with poetry credit to: RonnyAllan.NET Thanks for reading Ronny I also have one about Lanreotide (or “butt
When I was diagnosed, I didn’t even feel ill. It was therefore a bit of a shock being told I had metastatic cancer, advanced enough to
I was assessing performance of the awareness period in November 2025 on Facebook and was astonished to find the size of my reach on that
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
