Pregnant US Soccer Star Lauren Holiday Faces Brain Tumor With Husband Jrue's Help
— -- Former soccer midfielder Lauren Holiday was six months pregnant with her first child when she was diagnosed with a benign tumor on the right side of her brain.
Now, eight months into her pregnancy, she anxiously awaits the birth of her child while also facing the surgery. But the back-to-back Olympic gold medalist, National Women's Soccer League champion and 2015 World Cup winner won't be facing the ordeal alone.
She'll have her husband, NBA point guard Jrue Holiday, by her side. Jrue recently announced he will sit out the start of the season with the New Orleans Pelicans to take care of his wife because, he said, "family comes before basketball."
USA Today columnist and ABC News consultant Christine Brennan said, "They met at UCLA. Both standout athletes. The common ground for this, for this relationship, was not a classroom. It was the playing field."
The Pelicans point guard called his wife's disease "devastating" in an interview with the New Orleans Times-Picayune, saying she has experienced numbness on the right side of her face because the tumor is pressing on a nerve.
Encouragingly, the 28-year-old expectant mother's tumor is benign, operable and not a threat to her unborn daughter, but surgery will have to wait until after the baby is born, the Times-Picayune reported.
"Everything that Lauren Holiday has been through as an athlete will make her tougher and stronger during these difficult times," Brennan said.
The soccer star, who retired from the sport in 2015, frequently posts motivational bible passages on her Twitter account and says the couple will seek solace in their faith to help them face the road ahead.
Holiday tweeted Monday, "We are firm believers that people need people. So thank you for your thoughts and prayers as we navigate a difficult time."
The baby is due in mid-October, but the Times-Picayune reports the Holidays plan to induce labor earlier in order to expedite Lauren's surgery.
