Ex-49ers QB Alex Smith shares story of daughter’s emergency brain surgery

Retired NFL quarterback Alex Smith will forever be remembered for the courage it took to return to the league after suffering a horrific leg injury that nearly cost him his life. While with Washington, Smith sustained a spiral and compound fracture to his tibia and fibula in his right leg. Many assumed the injury was career-ending.

Smith returned to the football field in 2020, earning NFL Comeback Player of the Year honors before retiring last offseason.

On Saturday, Smith shared the story of his family's latest struggle. In May, his daughter, Sloane, had to undergo brain surgery to remove a large and rare type of cancerous tumor. The good news is that neurosurgeons removed the entire tumor, and it sounds like Sloane is recovering well.

Smith wrote:

This is Sloane Kenzington Smith, our baby, the youngest of three and our only girl. She is sweet, selfless, intelligent, hilarious, witty, fun-loving, an artist, a singer, and a dancing machine. But most of all she is an incredibly strong girl that has a ton of fight in her.

The first picture was taken just a couple weeks—before our lives changed. On May 10th, Sloane was rushed to the ER with stroke-like symptoms. She had an MRI and the doctors quickly informed us she had a large brain tumor and needed an emergency craniotomy.

The 10 hour procedure was the most excruciating time of our lives. A clock has never moved so slowly. The incredible neurosurgeons @stanfordchildrens did a miraculous job and were able to remove 100% of the tumor.

Sloane—in her true form—bounced back from brain surgery like a rockstar! She didn't skip a beat. After weeks of waiting on pathology, we learned that Sloane's tumor is a very rare malignant tumor with very few documented cases—without a clear road map for treatment. We are currently awaiting more tests and gathering as many opinions as we can from doctors across the country to decide the best path forward. We wish this were easy, clear-cut and someone gave us a how-to guide. It's anything but that.

All we know is what is most important—and that's SLOANE. She has healed from surgery. Back to her bubbly self. Singing, dancing, laughing and feeling good.

I know we don't post much about our kids but we felt necessary to post this and say THANK YOU. Thank you to our amazing medical team, family, friends, acquaintances and even some strangers who have touched our lives in the last month and a half. We have struggled to keep up on calls, texts, communication and trying to keep loved ones updated. This has been by far the most challenging time we have EVER been through. We know it's not over and we have a journey ahead of us, but without all of you we could not have gotten this far. We are sorry if we seem withdrawn. It's because we are… We have been inundated with doctors appointments, scans, labs and trying our best to navigate through this. Most importantly, we're healing together as a family.
❤️The Smiths

Within the Instagram post, Smith shared a photo showing the tumor size before the procedure.

The 49ers made Smith the No. 1 overall pick in the 2005 NFL Draft. He spent eight seasons with San Francisco before being traded to Kansas City. Smith spent five seasons with the Chiefs before finishing his career with Washington.