Maria Menounos 'Grateful to Be Alive' After Welcoming First Child and Surviving Cancer, Other Health Issues

Menounos and her husband, Kevin Udergaro, welcomed their daughter in June.

Motherhood has given Maria Menounos some time to reflect!

On Wednesday, the new mom took to Instagram to celebrate welcoming her daughter after years of health battles. 

"Hi friends! Motherhood is going great. Athena is an Angel. She’s currently asleep on me as we get some morning light. I’m so in love it’s crazy. Thank you to all of you for the love. I look back at the last 6 years-it’s been kinda crazy. Mom gets a brain tumor, then me, two brain surgeries later, then both my parents are hospitalized with covid, then I lost my mom, then I got diagnosed with type one diabetes, then a Neuro endocrine tumor on my pancreas…some other crazy stuff in between too," the 45-year-old wrote next to a picture of her holding her daughter and wearing a shirt that says "Mother" in the Barbie font. 

Menounos continued: "Kev says I maybe roll too well with the punches and I should sit back and acknowledge it all more -maybe at some point I will dig in deeper. Right now just that list makes me so grateful to be alive and to have thrived. To be here to enjoy this beautiful little girl. Thank you god! Thank you st Nectarios and Panagia. I pray all of it is behind us and only great days ahead!"

In January, the former E! News correspondent revealed her private battle with stage 2 pancreatic cancer, and underwent surgery to remove a tumor. In February, the Heal Squad host revealed that she and her husband were expecting their child, while she was recovering from her diagnosis. 

Menounos and Undergaro welcomed their 'miracle baby" on June 23, following a decade of fertility struggles. 

"It was the most special moment of my life," she shared with Us Weekly. "The doctor literally grabbed her and hiked her onto me. I sat with her on my chest, and Keven and I kept looking at each other like, ‘Oh, my God.’ It was just pure joy."

The proud mom has happily given updates about her latest role. In July, Menounos filled in as a guest host on Live With Kelly and Mark, where she gushed about her "amazing baby girl." 

"It's like the greatest feeling in the world," she said about motherhood. "I never knew when my dad would be like, 'Maria, life is about kids and family,' and I was so busy with my career and running around. Now, I get it. It really is. This is just the greatest feeling in the world."

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