Popular Mom Blogger Felt ‘Dizzy’ While Playing With Her Kids. Scans Revealed Tumor in Her Brain

Blogger Kelly Stafford, the wife of Detroit Lions quarterback Matthew Stafford, often lets fans in on her life with her husband and kids on social media.

The mom has three children with her football star husband and uses in her Instagram to share parenting advice and, of course, lots of adorable photos of her little ones.

However, the mom made a heartbreaking announcement on Wednesday that left her asking for prayers.

View this post on Instagram

I surprised Matthew with some gifts instead of a pregnancy this year.. #hewasrelieved Merry Christmas from our family to yours!

A post shared by Kelly Stafford (@kbstafford89) on Dec 25, 2018 at 8:28am PST

In a lengthy post, Stafford revealed on Wednesday that she’s suffering from a brain tumor and will have to undergo surgery to have it removed.

She said that she first something noticed something was off in January when she got dizzy while playing with her children. Stafford wrote:

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.

The mom decided to have testing done at the hospital when she continued to suffer from spells of vertigo.

That’s when she got the devastating news, she said:

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.

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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 Apr 3, 2019 at 7:27am PDT

According to Johns Hopkins Medicine, this type of tumor is non-cancerous but can “affect hearing and balance when they press on the nerves in the inner ear.”

Stafford said she and her husband are extremely nervous about her undergoing surgery in the coming weeks and asked for support:

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.

In a follow-up post on Friday, Stafford said she was “beyond grateful” for all the support she’s received.

The mom said that’s she’s now taking some time off social media in order to spend time with her family.