It’s a miracle Alex Smith is with us today after one of the worst injuries in NFL history left the former QB fighting for his life battling flesh-eating bacteria and sepsis, but 17 surgeries later, he’s hoping for another miracle, this time for his daughter.
Just 13 months after Smith retired from the league, he and his wife Elizabeth’s 7-year-old daughter Sloane was rushed to the hospital and had surgery to remove a malignant brain tumor.
Per The New York Times who broke the bad news in the first public story about Sloane’s condition, surgeons were unable to remove 100% of the tumor during the first surgery in 2022, and were then forced to perform a second 10-hour craniotomy earlier this year.
“We found out last fall that essentially that they had missed a piece,” doctors stated. “There was a little piece in there left over.”
Smith reflected on how though his battle with his medical trauma was tough, it has in no way prepared him for the fight to save his daughter and has left him “feeling helpless.”
“It’s different when it’s your little girl,” Smith told The Times, “and you’re helpless with how terrifying that is. You just have no idea what it means. The words brain tumor are terrifying.”
Elizabeth Smith shared an Instagram post with a video showing photos and clips of Sloane in the hospital and with her brothers and parents.
When Smith announced his retirement in April of 2021, he noted, “I’m going to take a little time to enjoy a few of those walks with my wife, and my kids have no idea what’s coming for them in the backyard (games).”
We’re sure Sloane didn’t take any of those games for granted.
