Kelly Stafford, wife of Detroit Lions quarterback Matthew Stafford, is urging young moms to take the time to get their health checked as she hits the six month mark after undergoing brain surgery.
Stafford, 30, says in the newly released ESPN interview, that she ignored some telling signs like feeling dizzy and lightheaded and overlooked weak spells. She thought it might be age, or the fact that she was caring for three daughters under the age of two — but she was wrong.
The mom-of-three wrote a personal essay for ESPN describing her journey first-hand. She wrote “A few days after the MRI, we got the results. The medical term was an acoustic neuroma or vestibular schwannoma. There was a tumor sitting on some of my cranial nerves. I was told I needed to have surgery to remove it. And I was terrified.”
She continued, “Not at first. At first, we didn’t have any idea of where this was going to go, and we just needed to figure out how to deal with it. But as the day went on, my fears started to show themselves. What if this thing gets taken out and something goes wrong? What if something happens before that? My biggest fear is not being here, and not being here to raise my girls.”
Kelly shared her story on social media, which as the wife of a high-profile NFL quarterback is really brave in itself — considering not everyone is a supportive fan and the world of social media can be brutal. Stafford notes in the essay, “Not only did I want to let people know what I was going through, I wanted to say: It’s OK to be scared, regardless of your situation.”
The Georgia native, added, “I’ll say this: Detroit and Michigan really showed up. The Lions were incredible. They told Matthew to take all of the time and space he needed. And then, there were the fans. The amount of letters that poured into the facility — so many prayers, a lot of holy water — it was remarkable. Matthew joked that our house looked like a bootleg flower shop.”
She expressed, “This state can be tough on its athletes, especially one that has been here so long. We’ve been here for 11 years now, and I had never really taken to this state as much as I wanted to … until now. Because the support that these people gave me — you can tell how much they love him by the support they gave me. I was truly grateful for it all.”
These days, Kelly says, “I feel pretty good. Days are longer. Some days are hard — some mornings I wake up a little foggy, and know I have to take the day a little slower. It’s rarer for me to get dizzy. Background noise can be tough (but also good — sometimes I don’t hear what I don’t want to hear).”
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