Matthew Stafford’s wife Kelly to undergo brain surgery for tumor

As Matthew Stafford prepares for what he hopes will be a vastly improved 2019 season for the Detroit Lions, the quarterback is dealing with much more important issues off the field.

On Wednesday, Stafford’s wife Kelly announced on Instagram that she will need to undergo brain surgery to remove a tumor from her head. The mass was discovered after she experienced several dizzy spells that she initially attributed to getting older, but eventually she knew something wasn’t right.

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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 did not say exactly when she will have the surgery, but she asked for prayers over the next two weeks and said she is “terrified” of the potential complications.

Matthew and Kelly have been together since Stafford was a quarterback at Georgia, where Kelly was a cheerleader. They have three daughters together, and Kelly has always been outspoken in defending Matthew against critics. We hope everything turns out well for her and the Stafford family.