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NFL QB's Wife To Undergo Surgery After Brain Tumor Discovered, Asks for Prayers

By Ross Kelly April 3, 2019 at 12:12pm

Matthew Stafford expected to spend his April preparing for the Detroit Lions’ first offseason workouts later this spring.

Instead, he will be by his wife’s side as she faces the fight of her life.

Kelly Stafford revealed Wednesday that she was diagnosed with a brain tumor.

In an Instagram post, she said she will be undergoing surgery later this month to remove the tumor.

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This is a picture of Matthew & I the day we found out. I said I wanted this picture of us, so that the day this was all over, we could look back at this photo & remember. Within the last year, I began to notice things that I thought was just me getting older.. I would show my girls how to do a front roll or twirl in ballet class and immediately feel dizzy & off balance… Things that I had been doing my entire life were now, all of a sudden, difficult. The beginning of Jan was when I experienced my first spell of vertigo..It kept happening & then it happened while I was holding Hunter. Matthew took me straight to the ER. They checked vitals & bloodwork, all were fine.. Several vertigo spells later, Matthew’s team doctor recommended we go get an MRI of my brain to rule everything major out. A few days later we were hit with the results. I had a tumor sitting on some of my cranial nerves. The medical term they used was an acoustic neuroma or vestibular schwannoma.. All I heard was brain tumor & that they had to do surgery to take it out.. so that is what we are going to do & we believe we found the best doctor to do it. I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t completely terrified of brain surgery. I am. I am terrified of them opening my head, I’m terrified of losing my hearing, I’m terrified of losing facial function, I’m terrified of far worse things that could happen and I’m terrified that I won’t take the time I need to recover because the guilt I might feel of being absent from my kids for too long.. I am telling y’all this to ask for prayers and support. Things to pray for: -calmness in these next 2 weeks as I know anxiety will run high in myself & my whole family leading up to the day of surgery. -that God be in the room with the surgeons & give them all the guidance, steadiness, & confidence they need. -my safety during and after surgery. -please pray for matthew as I know his nerves will be high during this surgery. I couldn’t imagine being out in that waiting room. Thank u. Thank u for reading this novel. thank u for all your support and most importantly, thank u for your prayers.

A post shared by Kelly Stafford (@kbstafford89) on Apr 3, 2019 at 7:27am PDT

Kelly Stafford said that in the past year she began experiencing symptoms of dizziness, loss of balance and ultimately vertigo.

Her vitals and bloodwork all came back as normal, but the Lions’ team doctor recommended that she undergo a brain MRI, which revealed the tumor.

“I had a tumor sitting on some of my cranial nerves,” Stafford wrote. “The medical term they used was an acoustic neuroma or vestibular schwannoma. All I heard was brain tumor & that they had to do surgery to take it out… so that is what we are going to do & we believe we found the best doctor to do it.

“I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t completely terrified of brain surgery. I am. I am terrified of them opening my head, I’m terrified of losing my hearing, I’m terrified of losing facial function, I’m terrified of far worse things that could happen and I’m terrified that I won’t take the time I need to recover because the guilt I might feel of being absent from my kids for too long… I am telling y’all this to ask for prayers and support.”

She asked for prayers for herself and her family.

“Things to pray for: -calmness in these next 2 weeks as I know anxiety will run high in myself & my whole family leading up to the day of surgery. -that God be in the room with the surgeons & give them all the guidance, steadiness, & confidence they need. -my safety during and after surgery. -please pray for matthew as I know his nerves will be high during this surgery,” Stafford wrote. “I couldn’t imagine being out in that waiting room.

“Thank u. Thank u for reading this novel. thank u for all your support and most importantly, thank u for your prayers.”

Numerous Lions players replied to her post with words of encouragement, including Darius Slay, Kerryon Johnson and former Lion Dan Orlovsky.

Stafford is from Atlanta, and she and Matthew met while both were attending the University of Georgia.

They have three young daughters, and her announcement came just days after the girls were baptized.

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Yesterday was a very special day. Yesterday morning we baptized Chandler, Sawyer, and Hunter. Although the terrible twos for chandler and sawyer were very prevalent at the beginning of this (see my story), I loved how they completely calmed down when Mr. Khedouri baptized them and said the ending prayer. We are so grateful for all of the girls’ God parents who made it and also those who weren’t able to be there (chad, rose, and page). These girls are beyond blessed to have them in their lives. One of the coolest parts to me, is that we were able to baptize them in a place where I spent my entire adolescence.. at Wesleyan. And the man who married Matthew and I and who has been in my life since I first started at Wesleyan in the 6th grade, was the man to baptize our little girls. Thank you Mr. Khedouri and thank you God for giving us these little girls and their God parents! @jenny16winter @tatak0328 @twheyman @sryan03 @awatt @schapas @razimmie @ryan_matt02 @16chadhall @rosehall__ @pagesclark

A post shared by Kelly Stafford (@kbstafford89) on Apr 1, 2019 at 7:47am PDT

The godfather to one of Stafford’s daughters is Atlanta Falcons quarterback Matt Ryan, who was also in attendance for the baptism. Stafford and Ryan have developed a close friendship with both living in Atlanta during the offseason.

The Lions’ first offseason workout is on April 15 with OTAs starting on May 20.

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