Kelly Stafford, the wife of Detroit Lions quarterback Matthew Stafford, disclosed on Instagram earlier this year that she would be having surgery to remove a brain tumor that was not cancerous.

Kelly Stafford provided additional details about her diagnosis, rehabilitation, and near-deafness on Monday in a first-person essay published on espn.com.

“I became concerned about it for the first time last January.”

Kelly starts the story by saying, “The first moment I was really concerned was last January,” collaborating with ESPN reporter Emily Kaplan.

She had just received a massage in Michigan when she walked out feeling dizzy and as though “the world was spinning around me.” After sitting in her car for a few minutes, she felt better and drove herself home.

It happened again a week later, but this time she was holding Hunter, the couple’s baby daughter. She quickly gave the baby to Matthew as the room began to spin because she was afraid she would fall while he was holding her.

Matthew told her, “We can not let this continue.” “We must have you examined.” He believed vertigo was the culprit.

Since then, Kelly has come to the realization that she has been feeling “off” for some time. However, she has three daughters under the age of two, so she was always chasing after them or attending to their needs, putting her own needs last. Many mothers can relate to this feeling.

Kelly did the necessary tests (blood work, vital signs, etc.) but declined an MRI since they were going to California for vacation, so Matthew insisted that she see a doctor after nearly abandoning Hunter. After being prescribed antivert for her vertigo, they departed on their trip.

However, the medication had no effect.

Acoustic neuroma is a brain tumor that grows slowly.

After learning about his wife’s condition from Matthew, the Lions team physician scheduled an MRI for her in California. A couple of days later, she had a diagnosis: acoustic neuroma, also called vestibular schwannoma.

Acoustic neuroma (also known as vestibular schwannoma) “is a noncancerous and usually slow-growing tumor that develops on the main [vestibular] nerve leading from your inner ear to your brain,” according to the Mayo Clinic website. branches of this nerve directly affect hearing and balance. An acoustic neuroma can put pressure on these nerves, resulting in hearing loss, ringing in the ears, and unsteadiness.

The Schwann cells that cover this nerve are typically the source of auditory neuromas, which grow slowly or not at all. Rarely, it may grow rapidly and become large enough to press against the brain and interfere with vital functions.”