Maria Menounos

In the course of caring for her mother who suffers from stage 4 brain cancer Maria learned that she was facing the possibility of a health issue of her own. In February 2014 Menounos started experiencing troubling symptoms. "I'd experienced lightheadedness on set and having headaches," Menounos tells PEOPLE in the magazine's new exclusive cover story. "My speech had become slow and I was experiencing difficulties reading the teleprompter". The results of an MRI revealed Menounos was suffering from a meningioma the size of a golf ball brain tumor pushing the facial nerves. Menounos booked an appointment to meet her mother's neurosurgeon Dr. Keith L. Black. They scheduled surgery for the 8th of June, Menounos' 39th birthday. "He advised me, 'I'm 99 percent certain it's normal, but it will be determined once we get in there the surgery,'" she says. Dr. Black managed to eliminate 99.9 percent of benign tumors with a complicated operation that took seven hours. The doctor. Black claimed that it's feasible to observe the tumor return in between six and seven percent of the cases. It's a good thing I can consider these odds any day of the week. Menounos is home after an inpatient stay of six days. The patient is recovering and enjoying her time with Litsa the mother of her. Litsa's most recent MRI confirms that she's healthy and free from cancer.