Kelly Stafford, wife of Lions QB Matthew Stafford, announced via her Instagram today that she will have brain surgery later this month after a recent MRI uncovered a tumor. Stafford said doctors discovered an acoustic neuroma on her cranial nerves; thankfully, the tumor is benign.
Stafford wrote that she started to feel dizzy within the last year, then began to experience vertigo in January while working out. Things kept getting worse and once she started to experience spells of vertigo while standing, she went to the ER. Bloodwork didn’t show anything amiss, but her symptoms worsened. Matthew recommended she see Lions doctors, and they helped her figure out what was wrong. “Several vertigo spells later,” she wrote, “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.”
Stafford announced the news on the eve of the couple’s four-year wedding anniversary. The surgery will take place in April, and Stafford wrote, “I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t completely terrified of brain surgery.” While any brain surgery is obviously a big deal, a doctor who spoke to the Detroit Free Press called acoustic neuromas “very treatable.”
