Detroit Lions Offer Support to Quarterback Matthew Stafford's Wife Kelly as She Battles Brain Tumor

Just hours after Detroit Lions quarterback Matthew Stafford's wife, Kelly revealed she would be undergoing surgery for a brain tumor, the NFL team is offering their support to the entire family.

In a statement shared with social media on Wednesday, the four-time championship team lent their love and support to the Staffords.

"The Detroit Lions fully support Kelly, Matthew and the entire Stafford family during this difficult time," the statement read. "Over the years, their selfless commitment to helping others and improving the communities in which we live and work has made a lasting impact on the lives of so many. We thank everyone for the outpouring of support."

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— Detroit Lions (@Lions) April 3, 2019

The statement went on to read how on behalf of the family, they ask "everyone respect the privacy of the situation at this time."

Kelly shared with fans on Wednesday in a post shared to social media that she is planning to undergo surgery for a recently diagnosed brain tumor. Sharing two snapshots to her Instagram — one of herself with husband Stafford and another of her MRI scan with an arrow pointing to the tumor — Kelly revealed the former photo was a significant one.

"This is a picture of Matthew & I the day we found out," she wrote. "I said I wanted this picture of us, so that the day this was all over, we could look back at this photo [and] remember."

Kelly adds that within the last year, she began to "notice things" and likened it all to age. However, when she would spend time with their children and show her children how to do front rolls and twirls in ballet class, she would "feel dizzy" or "off balance."

However, it was the beginning of January when she first experienced a vertigo spell that pushed her into the ER — something that she adds "kept happening," even when she held their children. Kelly wrote that it was just a few days later that they were hit with the results.

"I had a tumor sitting on some of my cranial nerves," she wrote in the post. "The medical term they used was an acoustic neuroma or vestibular schwannoma. All I heard was brain tumor [and] that they had to do surgery to take it out.. so that is what we are going to do [and] we believe we found the best doctor to do it."

Kelly, the mother of three admits she is "terrified" of the surgery.

"I'd be lying if I said I wasn't completely terrified of brain surgery. I am," she revealed. "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."

According to the Mayo Clinic, treatment for an acoustic neuroma might include monitoring, therapy or surgery, which is most often "performed under general anesthesia and involves removing the tumor through the inner ear or through a window in" the patient's skull.

However, in some cases, the entire tumor may not be removed if it is too close to important parts of the brain or facial nerve. Complications from the surgery could include facial numbness, balance problems, hearing loss and stroke. However, doctors have since said her prognosis can be treated with an excellent outcome.

Stafford and her quarterback playing husband began dating as undergraduate students at Georgia and wed in 2015. They share three children together, which includes twin girls, Sawyer and Chandler born in 2017 and daughter Hunter, born August 2018.

Photo credit: Instagram / @kbstafford89