Not All Brain Tumors Are Cancerous
- Nearly three years after celebrating the removal of a brain tumor, Kelly Stafford is celebrating again as her quarterback husband Matt heads to the Super Bowl.
- In January 2019, Kelly was diagnosed with a benign brain tumor called acoustic neuroma. And in April of that year, she had surgery to remove the tumor; the surgery was a success.
- Naturally, a lot of people think "cancer" when they hear the word tumor. However, most brain tumors are not actually cancerous. Less than one third (about 32%) of brain tumors are considered malignant (cancerous).
- It is important to pay attention to your body; if you experience any symptoms of an acoustic neuroma brain tumor, such as balance problems, dizziness, facial numbness or hearing loss, you should ask your doctor to be examined further for any evidence of a tumor.
However, nearly three years ago, the roles were reversed; Matt and the Stafford kids were celebrating alongside Kelly after she woke up from surgery to remove a brain tumor.
Read MoreGreat moment between Matthew Stafford and his wife. #SuperBowlBound pic.twitter.com/elxZDz691D
IG: JosinaAnderson (@JosinaAnderson) January 31, 2022
The big game between the Rams and the Cincinnati Bengals will take place on Sunday, Feb. 13.
Kelly Stafford's Brain Tumor
It all started in January 2019 when Kelly Stafford began experiencing flashes of vertigo ​​the sensation that you, or the environment around you, is moving or spinning, causing you to feel dizziness.
"The room just kind of started spinning on me," Kelly said. "I was holding our newborn at that point, and I kind of just like almost threw her to Matthew because I felt myself going down."
"I thought it was time to … at least try to get her looked at and see if it is vertigo," husband Matthew Stafford said.
At the doctor, Kelly had an MRI scan that confirmed the family's worst nightmare: Kelly had a brain tumor. The good news, however, was that her tumor was benign, meaning not cancerous. The type of brain tumor she had is known as an acoustic neuroma, which is a benign tumor that grows on the nerve that runs from your inner ear to your brain. They are rather slow-growing and can exist for years before symptoms begin to present themselves.
The symptoms of this brain tumor can include:
- Balance problems, such as vertigo (What Kelly Stafford experienced)
- Dizziness
- Facial numbness
- Hearing loss
- Ringing in one ear
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"I don't know if this doctor didn't know that I didn't know (about the brain tumor); she pulls up my MRI and goes, 'Well, here is your brain tumor,'" Kelly recalled. "We had no idea."
It was shortly after her diagnosis, on April 17, 2019, that doctors decided to operate. The tumor was successfully removed during a 12-hour surgery.
How She Did it: With the Support of Her Family
It is incredibly important for patients to have a strong support system when going through what is most likely one of the hardest times of their lives, and just being there can do wonders. This is something Kelly Stafford can attest to when it comes to her husband Matt's support.
"He never left my side," she said of her husband. "I mean when I say I couldn't do anything. He had to be by my side at every moment."
She also said that the support of their children twins Chandler and Sawyer, 4, Hunter, 3, and Tyler, 1 helped her pull through.
"Kids are great in the sense that you can't dwell on things," she said. "They make you get up. They make you keep going."
Jill Kargman on Relationships and Cancer
Cancer is also an experience that can surely take an emotional toll on both the patient and the spouse, as well as their relationship.
This is something actress and melanoma survivor Jill Kargman can attest to as cancer was a true test of her relationship's strength. In a previous interview with SurvivorNet, Kargman says the disease "is a great way to find out if you're with the love of your life or a shithead."
"I think it presses the fast-forward button on getting to the bottom of that answer, because a lot of people in middle age are kind of at a crossroads, waiting for their kids to fly the coop," Kargman says. "I think if you're with someone who is not supportive and kind of emotionally checked out or doesn't tell you you're still beautiful with that, this might not be your person."
Not All Brain Tumors Are Cancerous
Naturally, a lot of people think "cancer" when they hear the word tumor. However, most brain tumors are not actually cancerous. Less than one third (about 32%) of brain tumors are considered malignant (cancerous).
If a tumor is made up of normal-looking cells, then the tumor is benign. But these tumors may still require treatment, such as surgery. Because of this, they are often referred to as "non-malignant," since the word benign can be misleading.
The most common type of non-malignant brain tumors are meningiomas, however, there are 120 different types of brain and central nervous system tumors, according to the American Brain Tumor Association. One of those types is acoustic neuroma, which is what Kelly Stafford had.
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Oftentimes after an MRI, a biopsy will be performed on a brain tumor to determine its type. Sometimes, the results of imaging tests show that a tumor is likely to be non-malignant, and a biopsy is not necessary.
The symptoms of a brain tumor, or even brain cancer if the tumor is malignant, can frequently and easily change, Dr. Suriya Jeyapalan, director of medical neuro-oncology at Tufts Medical Center in Boston, Mass., tells SurvivorNet.
"But for I think this is the take home message for I think a lot of patients: Brain cancer is actually really rare," Dr. Jeyapalan said. "Lung cancer, breast cancer, colon cancer, are much more common."
"Everybody's always scared about getting their brain tumor and, you know, 'Oh, should I be using my cell phone or what not,' and I tell them, 'No, you should be much more scared about the fact that you're, you know, you're hypertensive, you're diabetic, you have high cholesterol, you're overweight, you're not exercising enough,'" she added.
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