Lions fans flood Matthew Stafford’s charity of choice with donations

Matthew Stafford’s legacy in Detroit will always be mixed, but on the night news broke that he’d requested a trade—a request the Lions appear ready to honor—fans showed their appreciation for the franchise quarterback in an awesome way.

In a move that appeared to start on the Lions’ reddit page, fans started donating $9—his jersey number—to the Acoustic Neuroma Association.

Why the Acoustic Neuroma Association? Because that’s the charity Stafford sponsored during the past two “My Cause, My Cleats” campaigns as a tribute to the battle his wife Kelly went through. In 2019, Kelly was diagnosed with “acoustic neuroma” or a serious brain tumor. She had intensive surgery on it a few months later, and she’s since been going through a rigorous rehabilitation.

You may remember this emotional video of Matthew presenting his wife with the cleats that he was going to wear to honor her cause. You may want to have some tissues nearby.

So on Saturday night, fans flooded the site to honor the Staffords and all of their contributions to the city over the past 12 years, both on and off the field.

If you’d like to join the group of Lions fans donating to the Acoustic Neuroma Association, you can donate right here.

This is just a sampling of the support from Saturday night.