Former Pro Bowl quarterback Alex Smith is opening up about 7-year-old daughter Sloane’s brain tumor diagnosis, telling The New York Times he’s felt “helpless” amid his child’s health battle.
“It’s different when it’s your little girl and you’re helpless with how terrifying that is,” Smith said.
“The words brain tumor are terrifying.”
Sloane, who is the youngest of Smith’s three children with his wife, Elizabeth, underwent an emergency craniotomy in May 2022 when doctors discovered a very rare malignant tumor.
She underwent a second procedure in the spring that lasted 10 hours as doctors were unable to remove the entire tumor in the first surgery.
“We found out last fall that essentially that they had missed a piece, that there was a little piece in there left over,” said Smith, who retired from the NFL in April 2021 and endured a life-threatening health scare in 2018.
Sloane has suffered “two seizures,” according to The Times, with the family living “scan to scan” as they continue to help raise money in the fight for pediatric cancer research.
In August, Smith took part in the Pan-Mass Challenge bicycle race across Massachusetts as he raised more than $45,000 for the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute.
That same month, Elizabeth opened up about Sloane’s medical journey in a raw Instagram post.
“Over the past year, our daughter Sloane has been a little fighter,” Elizabeth wrote, including a video of Sloane’s hospital visits.
“From 2 brain surgeries, therapies, countless MRI’s, blood draws, EEG’s, pokes, prods and a million doctors appointments. One thing we know is she continues to fight and never lets her light dim. She shines bright and doesn’t let anything hold her down.”
Elizabeth then detailed Smith’s pledge to raise money for pediatric brain tumors and cancer with OOFOS, the footwear brand he became an ambassador for after using it during his recovery from a spiral fracture of his leg in November 2018.
Smith first shared his daughter’s medical emergency in an Instagram post last June.
“On May 10th, Sloane was rushed to the ER with stroke-like symptoms,” Smith wrote at the time. “She had an MRI and the doctors quickly informed us she had a large brain tumor and needed an emergency craniotomy.
Smith explained that Sloane, his and Elizabeth’s only daughter, underwent a 10-hour surgery, which he described as “the most excruciating time of our lives.”
“Sloane’s tumor is a very rare malignant tumor with very few documented cases,” Smith said, adding she “has healed” from brain surgery.
“Sloane — in her true form — bounced back from brain surgery like a rockstar! She didn’t skip a beat.”
Smith, who noted he and his wife don’t post much about their kids, thanked the medical team and those who shared support.
Smith and his wife are going to personally match all money raised for pediatric brain tumors and cancer with OOFOS.
Smith announced his retirement from the NFL in April 2021 with a video posted to his Instagram page that featured footage of his recovery from a broken right fibula and tibia.
