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Matthew and Kelly Stafford announce they are expecting their 4th child

The wife of the Detroit Lions quarterback announced she is pregnant, less than 11 months after she underwent surgery to remove a brain tumor.
/ Source: TODAY

Just less than a year after undergoing surgery to remove a brain tumor, Kelly Stafford has announced the joyous news that she is expecting her fourth child.

The wife of Detroit Lions quarterback Matthew Stafford posted a family photo from Disneyland on Instagram Sunday, writing that the couple, who have three girls, have a child due this summer.

"Got to enjoy one of the most magical places with my husband and 3 of our kiddos,'' she wrote. "Not pictured: our middle baby girl, Huntie. Baby stafford #4 due this summer (no worries, well before training camp). We won’t know whether the stafford kids will continue as a girl squad or if a little brother will enter the craziness until baby is here. Excited and exhausted! #staffordpartyof6 #madeindetroit #nomoresedans #staffordstrong."

She wrote a follow-up post Monday in which she revealed she found out she was pregnant on the same day Matthew learned he'd fractured bones in his back during a Nov. 3 game against the Raiders, an injury that put him on the sidelines for the rest of the season.

"With that news, I decided I would keep the pregnancy to myself because for so long we had been so worried about my brain and my recovery, I didn’t want him to have to think about me continuing to recover while growing a baby," she wrote. "I wanted him to have a clear mind so that he could have a quick, successful recovery himself."

After a trying year, the family is hoping to get back on track in 2020.

"Matthew had gotten word that his back had completely healed and because of symptoms I was having, I got an MRI on my brain that showed no residual from surgery & everything looked normal,'' she wrote. "We finally felt like we had caught a break. The past 15 months have really taken a toll on me and my family.

"Next month will mark a year from my brain surgery. It is a year that has helped my family grow in numbers and in strength, but it is a year that I never want to revisit."

Stafford had a benign tumor, known as an acoustic neuroma, removed in a 12-hour surgery April 17 of last year.

Doctors told her there was a 50% chance she could lose her hearing, as well as the possibility that she could lose facial function.

She wrote a first-person essay for ESPN in October in which she described her journey, which began when she first started experiencing dizziness. She ultimately had to relearn how to walk with the help of a physical therapist after the surgery.

"What if this thing gets taken out and something goes wrong?'' she wrote for ESPN. "What if something happens before that? My biggest fear is not being here, and not being here to raise my girls."