Kelly Stafford, the wife of Detroit Lions quarterback Matthew Stafford, credited her surgeon for saving her hearing as he operated last month to remove a brain tumor.
Tuesday, on Instagram, she thanked Dr. Gregory Thompson of the University of Michigan for his patience and persistence during the 12-hour surgery, which she said was complicated by a rare artery.
“When he opened me up, he saw an ‘anomalous’ artery that is normally not there. In his 2000 cases, he had seen it ONE other time. BUT bc it was so rare, he & his team wrote a paper on it for other surgeons,” Stafford wrote. “Then, God sent him me & although surprised when he cut in to see the artery, he was confident & prepared. He took his time & was patient. There was a moment when they thought I might have lost my hearing completely. He made everyone & everything stop, they all sat, & waited for some time.. the audio wave returned. His patience saved my hearing, as well as my face. You read right, he PRESERVED MY HEARING!”
Stafford had a setback when she was readmitted to the hospital briefly for help with pain management, but since then, she has continued to share her recovery journey on Instagram. She has posted two photos of her holding their children — the Staffords have three young daughters — and another workout photo at the gym, writing she was tired but optimistic.
“Knowing each day my energy, balance, dizziness and nausea will get better so always looking forward to tomorrow,” she wrote.
