Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
It is kiss f M. Seechrist with you. Thanks for having us
on. I've got some Jonas Brotherstickets coming up in just a minute,
but I want to shift gears andbring in Maria Manunos. Who's Maria?
How long you think we've known eachother? Over twenty years? Right?
Oh? For sure? How areyou? I'm doing well? Thank you
(00:22):
for asking and thank you for calling. We saw the just to sort of
get into at first, we sawthe news that you shared with everybody just
the other day that you were diagnosedwith stage two pancreatic cancer in January.
And I'm wondering when you were toldthat news, what was your reaction.
(00:46):
Your first reaction, Yeah, well, it's a neuroendocrine tumor that's on the
pancreas. And when the doctor toldme I it was so crazy because there's
so many steps before that. It'slike, first it was a radiologist who
found the mass, and my firstwords to him was like, oh cool,
so I'm a goner. And thenI rushed off to UCLA. They
(01:11):
confirmed the MRI, and then Ihad a biopsy and they came back and
they're like, it's definitely something.And then when you know it's definitely something.
And you know what you know,which is the limited stuff we know
about pant grass cancer is that itcomes with swift, swift aggressiveness, and
it's not usually a good result.It's it was terrifying. I was horrified.
(01:36):
And I saw you just days later, by the way, because when
I came to Live to announce thebaby, my gosh, you just found
out and yes, and you werehaving I just found out surroget. Oh
my god, Oh my god.Yeah, And so I made a conscious
decision to come because I turned around. So the story is I was going
home to Connecticut earlier to be withmy dad. I was so sad.
(01:57):
I didn't want to tell him,but I just wanted to be around him.
And then we were going to driveinto the city to see you guys
and do the show. And asI was driving to the airport, I
was having a lot of pain andI was like, oh my gosh,
I have to turn around. Theyturned around. I didn't know if I
was going to end up doing theshow. And then Sunday night, I
started to feel a little better,and I said, Kevin, we need
to shift this narrative and we needjoy and we need love, right now,
(02:20):
and this baby deserves to have excitementaround it and not sadness. And
that's why we went well. AndI mean, I remember, it's amazing
you don't know what people are goingthrough because I remember sitting next to you,
Kevin, right there in the audienceand you announced that you guys are
having a baby together, baby girl, via surrogate, and we were so
remember Kelley, I was so elated, Like it was just there was so
(02:43):
much excitement there. So Maria,what's happening now? Where are you and
what are they telling you? Andwhat can we know? So now I
am doing great, thank God,and recovering from surgery. They got it
all out. It was what theycall well differentiated, so it was in
(03:05):
one area they got clean margins,They tested everything. The pathology came back,
all the lymph nodes, the spleen, the part of the pancreas they
removed. Everything was negative. Andso now they just have to do scans
in six months to just make sureand then from there it's every year.
So it's just observing and making sureeverything's fine. It's something that I'm just
(03:30):
thinking about how you reacted to this, and you kind of made a joke
I mean in that moment, right, you said, oh I'm a goner.
Yeah, I mean we all,yeah, how we would process and
handle this kind of news. I'vehad, it happened with my family,
and I've seen my family react tocancer. But you do wonder, like,
how would you react? And I'malso thinking about the fact that you're
you're gonna be joined by this babyin what weeks? Months? Yeah?
(03:53):
Yeah, well, babies coming thissummer. The greatest, the greatest,
most joy full, amazing thing tohappen to you and Kevin is coming,
and this doesn't this doesn't shade thatat all, right, it did,
Oh my god, it did atthe time. So at first I kind
of cracked a joke and then Ihad to calm the guy down and like
(04:15):
and console him because he felt sobad giving me this news. And when
we left and we got confirmation thenext morning, I woke up and I
was just kind of looking at myicons on my mantel where I pray,
and I just started guttural crying becauseI was like, I can't believe you
would finally bless me with a baby, God, and then you would take
(04:36):
me before I get to meet her. And it was crushing. Oh my
gosh, of course I was terrified. But then at some point I realized
I didn't know the end to thestory, so I couldn't start projecting it,
and I didn't want to prophesize andcatastrophize, and so I shifted and
said, like my favorite Christmas movie, Santa Claus was coming to town,
(05:00):
just gonna put one foot in frontof the other, and I'm going to
literally just take it day by day, step by step. And the crazy
thing is, right, is mybest friend called me. She texted me
in January. She goes, Ineed to talk to you tonight. Some
news I need to share. AndI go, oh my gosh, so
do I and I sat down andwe talked and she goes, I have
stage one breast cancer. And I'mlike what. And then when she was
(05:25):
done, I was like, well, not to one up you, but
this is what I'm dealing with.And so the two of us were going
through it together and we had eachother. So it was a wild time.
But yeah, it definitely was tough. But then, like I said,
we came to do live and youguys filled this with so much joy.
Your audience filled this with so muchjoy and from then on, it
(05:47):
was just about recovering from surgery,or getting through surgery, recovering. My
dad was here with me. Hetook such good care of me, cooked
for me, made me laugh.We played Uno every night and you just
oh no, and Skippo the spinofftoo. But uh, but you know,
(06:08):
I mean, I do look atyou like family, and we've worked
together and been friends for so manyyears, and I had no idea.
That's the thing. You just gotto realize that you just don't know what
people are going through. And tohear that you've made it to the other
side of the surgery, you've recovered, and that baby's gonna be You're gonna
have your family in just a coupleof months. That's uh. That fills
our hearts with joy and exciting.And I know you're doing a lot of
(06:29):
great talking about this on your podcast. He'll squad. You can check that
out with Mariam and Nuns and stayclose. We'll be in touch. And
big hugs to Kevin too. Thankyou for coming on, Maria. Thank
you, Thank you, guys.Love you really appreciate you. Thank you,
Thank you, Tucson. Bye,Maria. It's amazing to think that
she had she knew she was diagnosedher stage two pink greta cancer. A
(06:50):
couple of days later, she's sittingnext to me. I remember that show.
We're doing the show she comes onto announced that she's having a baby.
Vious surrogate. I've never known,and yet you just never know,
Like you just don't know what's goingon right with people. You got to
give people the benefit of the doubtwhen something doesn't seem right. I know,
(07:10):
we're so quick to judge. Sogreat that she's sharing this story because
it's helping so many people, AndI have to tell you, I don't
know how I react. Yeah,I mean I would, I would,
I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. Like what's our
strength. Everyone's biggest fear as yourhealth. That's a she said, a
very aggressive cancer. Yeah, allright, we are going to shift gears
(07:32):
and come back with some tickets togo see the Jonas Brothers at Dodger Stadium.
Hang on,
It is kiss f M. Seechrist with you. Thanks for having us
on. I've got some Jonas Brotherstickets coming up in just a minute,
but I want to shift gears andbring in Maria Manunos. Who's Maria?
How long you think we've known eachother? Over twenty years? Right?
Oh? For sure? How areyou? I'm doing well? Thank you
(00:22):
for asking and thank you for calling. We saw the just to sort of
get into at first, we sawthe news that you shared with everybody just
the other day that you were diagnosedwith stage two pancreatic cancer in January.
And I'm wondering when you were toldthat news, what was your reaction.
(00:46):
Your first reaction, Yeah, well, it's a neuroendocrine tumor that's on the
pancreas. And when the doctor toldme I it was so crazy because there's
so many steps before that. It'slike, first it was a radiologist who
found the mass, and my firstwords to him was like, oh cool,
so I'm a goner. And thenI rushed off to UCLA. They
(01:11):
confirmed the MRI, and then Ihad a biopsy and they came back and
they're like, it's definitely something.And then when you know it's definitely something.
And you know what you know,which is the limited stuff we know
about pant grass cancer is that itcomes with swift, swift aggressiveness, and
it's not usually a good result.It's it was terrifying. I was horrified.
(01:36):
And I saw you just days later, by the way, because when
I came to Live to announce thebaby, my gosh, you just found
out and yes, and you werehaving I just found out surroget. Oh
my god, Oh my god.Yeah, And so I made a conscious
decision to come because I turned around. So the story is I was going
home to Connecticut earlier to be withmy dad. I was so sad.
(01:57):
I didn't want to tell him,but I just wanted to be around him.
And then we were going to driveinto the city to see you guys
and do the show. And asI was driving to the airport, I
was having a lot of pain andI was like, oh my gosh,
I have to turn around. Theyturned around. I didn't know if I
was going to end up doing theshow. And then Sunday night, I
started to feel a little better,and I said, Kevin, we need
to shift this narrative and we needjoy and we need love, right now,
(02:20):
and this baby deserves to have excitementaround it and not sadness. And
that's why we went well. AndI mean, I remember, it's amazing
you don't know what people are goingthrough because I remember sitting next to you,
Kevin, right there in the audienceand you announced that you guys are
having a baby together, baby girl, via surrogate, and we were so
remember Kelley, I was so elated, Like it was just there was so
(02:43):
much excitement there. So Maria,what's happening now? Where are you and
what are they telling you? Andwhat can we know? So now I
am doing great, thank God,and recovering from surgery. They got it
all out. It was what theycall well differentiated, so it was in
(03:05):
one area they got clean margins,They tested everything. The pathology came back,
all the lymph nodes, the spleen, the part of the pancreas they
removed. Everything was negative. Andso now they just have to do scans
in six months to just make sureand then from there it's every year.
So it's just observing and making sureeverything's fine. It's something that I'm just
(03:30):
thinking about how you reacted to this, and you kind of made a joke
I mean in that moment, right, you said, oh I'm a goner.
Yeah, I mean we all,yeah, how we would process and
handle this kind of news. I'vehad, it happened with my family,
and I've seen my family react tocancer. But you do wonder, like,
how would you react? And I'malso thinking about the fact that you're
you're gonna be joined by this babyin what weeks? Months? Yeah?
(03:53):
Yeah, well, babies coming thissummer. The greatest, the greatest,
most joy full, amazing thing tohappen to you and Kevin is coming,
and this doesn't this doesn't shade thatat all, right, it did,
Oh my god, it did atthe time. So at first I kind
of cracked a joke and then Ihad to calm the guy down and like
(04:15):
and console him because he felt sobad giving me this news. And when
we left and we got confirmation thenext morning, I woke up and I
was just kind of looking at myicons on my mantel where I pray,
and I just started guttural crying becauseI was like, I can't believe you
would finally bless me with a baby, God, and then you would take
(04:36):
me before I get to meet her. And it was crushing. Oh my
gosh, of course I was terrified. But then at some point I realized
I didn't know the end to thestory, so I couldn't start projecting it,
and I didn't want to prophesize andcatastrophize, and so I shifted and
said, like my favorite Christmas movie, Santa Claus was coming to town,
(05:00):
just gonna put one foot in frontof the other, and I'm going to
literally just take it day by day, step by step. And the crazy
thing is, right, is mybest friend called me. She texted me
in January. She goes, Ineed to talk to you tonight. Some
news I need to share. AndI go, oh my gosh, so
do I and I sat down andwe talked and she goes, I have
stage one breast cancer. And I'mlike what. And then when she was
(05:25):
done, I was like, well, not to one up you, but
this is what I'm dealing with.And so the two of us were going
through it together and we had eachother. So it was a wild time.
But yeah, it definitely was tough. But then, like I said,
we came to do live and youguys filled this with so much joy.
Your audience filled this with so muchjoy and from then on, it
(05:47):
was just about recovering from surgery,or getting through surgery, recovering. My
dad was here with me. Hetook such good care of me, cooked
for me, made me laugh.We played Uno every night and you just
oh no, and Skippo the spinofftoo. But uh, but you know,
(06:08):
I mean, I do look atyou like family, and we've worked
together and been friends for so manyyears, and I had no idea.
That's the thing. You just gotto realize that you just don't know what
people are going through. And tohear that you've made it to the other
side of the surgery, you've recovered, and that baby's gonna be You're gonna
have your family in just a coupleof months. That's uh. That fills
our hearts with joy and exciting.And I know you're doing a lot of
(06:29):
great talking about this on your podcast. He'll squad. You can check that
out with Mariam and Nuns and stayclose. We'll be in touch. And
big hugs to Kevin too. Thankyou for coming on, Maria. Thank
you, Thank you, guys.Love you really appreciate you. Thank you,
Thank you, Tucson. Bye,Maria. It's amazing to think that
she had she knew she was diagnosedher stage two pink greta cancer. A
(06:50):
couple of days later, she's sittingnext to me. I remember that show.
We're doing the show she comes onto announced that she's having a baby.
Vious surrogate. I've never known,and yet you just never know,
Like you just don't know what's goingon right with people. You got to
give people the benefit of the doubtwhen something doesn't seem right. I know,
(07:10):
we're so quick to judge. Sogreat that she's sharing this story because
it's helping so many people, AndI have to tell you, I don't
know how I react. Yeah,I mean I would, I would,
I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. Like what's our
strength. Everyone's biggest fear as yourhealth. That's a she said, a
very aggressive cancer. Yeah, allright, we are going to shift gears
(07:32):
and come back with some tickets togo see the Jonas Brothers at Dodger Stadium.
Hang on,
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