Lions Quarterback Matthew Stafford's Wife Returns Home After Brain Surgery to Remove Tumor

Jason Duaine Hahn
Updated

Kelly Stafford, who is married to Detroit Lions quarterback Matthew Stafford, announced in a social media post over the weekend that she is now recovering from a 12-hour operation to remove a brain tumor.

The 29-year-old revealed in early April that doctors found a benign tumor, known as an acoustic neuroma, resting on her cranial nerves that required surgery to treat. Leading up to her diagnosis, Stafford had experienced severe bouts of vertigo while spending time with the couple’s young daughters, Chandler and Sawyer.

Stafford uploaded a series of pictures to Instagram on Easter Sunday that showed her in a wheelchair and surrounded by family after the operation, which was scheduled to last six hours but stretched to 12 when the surgeon discovered an “abnormal” vein in her skull.

In a stroke of serendipity, the surgeon had previously written a paper on just that type of situation and was prepared to continue with the surgery.

Stafford — who also shares 8-month-old daughter Hunter Hope with her NFL husband — thanked supporters for their prayers during the ordeal.

“This Easter is the beginning of a new life for me,” she explained. “I wanna take a second to thank all of you for all the prayers. They have worked. I know they have.”

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

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“When they opened me up, I had an abnormal vein… maybe abnormal for other neurosurgeons, but not the one we chose,” she continued. “He had seen it before and written a paper on it. That’s truly God’s work. The prayers for my family, I’m beyond thankful for.”

Surgery for acoustic neuroma typically is performed under anesthesia, and “involves removing the tumor through the inner ear or through a window in [the] skull,” according to Mayo Clinic.

In a video, Stafford is seen slowly walking down an aisle accompanied by Matthew and her mother before leaving the hospital.

“Now I am home and learning my new norm,” she added in her Instagram post. “It’ll take some time, but I really just wanted to say thank you. Thank you for all your support, thoughts and prayers. It means more than y’all will ever know.”

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While the operation was successful, the healing process is still proving difficult.

On Monday, Stafford posted a message to her Instagram Story that described how difficult recovery has been in her first days back home.

“Sitting in this dark room in pain, but trying to hold off on meds because I want to see my kids. I want to be coherent and in the moment,” she wrote.

“Tomorrow, it’ll have been a whole week that I haven’t seen them and my heart aches,” Stafford added. “Balancing, in general, is incredibly hard right now… balancing kids and brain surgery is nearly impossible.”