Lions Quarterback Matthew Stafford and Wife Kelly Stafford Welcome Their Fourth Child One Year After Her Brain Surgery

Lions Quarterback Matthew Stafford and Wife Kelly Stafford Welcome Their Fourth Child One Year After Her Brain Surgery

In April 2019, Detroit Lions quarterback Matthew Stafford and his wife, Kelly Stafford, revealed that Kelly was diagnosed with a brain tumor. As Kelly explained on Instagram at the time, she began noticing something was wrong in 2018.

Kelly explained that every time she would instruct her three daughters how to do a front roll or how to twirl in ballet class, Kelly would “immediately feel dizzy and off-balance.” By the end of April 2019, the 31-year-old had undergone a 12-hour long brain surgery to remove the tumor.

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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

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Within months, after enduring a long recovery, pain, and rehabilitation, Kelly was back on her feet. Then 11 months later, on March 1, she revealed she and Matt were pregnant with their fourth child. And on June 26, Matthew and Kelly got to meet their fourth little one for the very first time.

Now, Hunter, Sawyer, and Chandler are all big sisters. Along with a photo of her on the operating table and Matthew sitting next to her kissing her forehead, Kelly announced the birth of their youngest child.

“Friday, June 26, 2020, our family became complete,” Kelly wrote.

And prominent figures from around the National Football League couldn’t be happier for Matthew and Kelly. Michelle Beisner, a Monday Night Football reporter, wrote, “Congratulations to you and your beautiful fam!!!!!! So happy for you!”

Fellow ESPN reporter, Adam Scheftner, added, “Congratulations!!” And all-pro corner back Darius Slay shared a similar sentiment, writing, “Congrats, sis!”

As Kelly shared in their announcement, “We won’t know whether the Stafford kids will continue as a girl squad or if a little brother will enter the craziness until baby is here. Excited and exhausted!” And now that baby number four is here, the Stafford’s know if it’s a boy or a girl, but their fans don’t.

It’s unclear when Kelly plans on sharing that news, but for now it seems as though she and Matthew are just taking in the first few days with their little one privately. Congratulations!

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