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          Stafford's wife having surgery for brain tumor

          • Michael Rothstein, ESPN Staff WriterApr 3, 2019, 03:06 PM
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              Michael Rothstein is a reporter for NFL Nation at ESPN. Rothstein covers the Atlanta Falcons. You can follow him via Twitter @MikeRothstein.
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          Kelly Stafford, the wife of Detroit Lions quarterback Matthew Stafford, announced Wednesday that she will undergo surgery this month for a brain tumor discovered earlier this year.

          She announced the diagnosis in a lengthy post on Instagram. She explained the process of what she and her husband went through, from her starting to feel dizzy to eventually getting the diagnosis from doctors.

          View this post on Instagram

          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

          Kelly Stafford, who has 153,000 followers on Instagram, said it began with a bout of vertigo in January. The vertigo continued, and when she suffered a spell while she was holding the Staffords' third child, Hunter, they went to the emergency room and had bloodwork done.

          The bloodwork came back clear but the vertigo continued, so on the recommendation of a Lions team doctor, she had an MRI.

          The results showed she had an acoustic neuroma, which is a benign tumor, on her cranial nerves.

          Stafford, who said the prospect of brain surgery left her "completely terrified," asked for prayers for herself and her family.

          "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," she wrote.

          The Staffords have been active in the Detroit community since Matthew Stafford was drafted by the Lions with the No. 1 overall pick in the 2009 NFL draft.