Isabella Strahan, the daughter of Michael Strahan, has been diagnosed with medulloblastoma, a common malignant tumor that develops in the cerebellum, the area of the brain at the base of the skull, and is undergoing treatment.
In an interview that appeared on Thursday on Good Morning America, the college student and her father discussed her recent health news. She was informed about her illness in late October, and on October 27, one day before turning 19, she had emergency surgery at Cedars-Sinai to remove the mass.
“I’m in good spirits. Not too bad,” Isabella said. Next month, she will begin chemotherapy at Duke Children’s Hospital & Health Center in Durham, North Carolina. It is what I will do next. I can’t wait for it to begin and for it to be one day closer to ending. I can’t wait for this entire process to be over. However, I believe that you just need to continue living each day throughout the entire process.”
“I genuinely believe that, in many aspects, I’m the most fortunate man on the planet, as I have a remarkable daughter,” Michael, 52, remarked during the interview with his fellow GMA co-anchor Robin Roberts. “I know she’s struggling with it, but I know that we are never given more than we can bear and that she is going to crush this.”
Six children, including Isabella. After having Isabella and her twin sister Sophia with his second wife, Jean Muggli, the former NFL player welcomed two older children, Tanita, 32, and Michael Jr., 29, with his first wife, Wanda Hutchins.
When Isabella started her freshman year at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles, she said in an interview with GMA that she first noticed symptoms of her brain tumor. “I hadn’t noticed anything was off ’til maybe like Oct. 1,” she claimed. “That’s when I felt headaches, nausea, and difficulty walking straight.”
After initially writing it off as vertigo, Isabella’s condition worsened on October 25, the day she woke up early and began “throwing up blood.” Her family urged her to get medical help right away.
Michael clarified, “At that point, we decided you really ought to go get a thorough checkup. And I’m so grateful for the doctor. Because this doctor was thorough enough to say, “Let’s do the full checkup,” I believe she saved her life.”
The doctors at Cedars-Sinai discovered Isabella had a rapidly expanding tumor in the back of her brain after she went there for a complete MRI. At 4 centimeters in size, it was bigger than a golf ball.
Isabella informed Michael of the news first. He remarked, “It didn’t feel real.” I can’t say that I remember much. All I can recall is attempting to find the quickest route to [Los Angeles].
To be by his daughter’s side, the father of four left GMA, ABC informed PEOPLE at the time that he was “dealing with some personal family matters.”
According to Michael, medulloblastoma is a common condition that affects approximately 500 children annually, but it “rarely” affects someone her age. He acknowledged, “There’s still a lot to go through, so it’s still scary.” The idea that she must go through this alone is the hardest thing for her to overcome.
After her surgery, Isabella had a month-long recuperation period in addition to multiple rounds of radiation therapy. “I got to ring the bell yesterday,” Isabella told cancer survivor Roberts, 63. “It was excellent. It was thrilling because the thirty sessions spanned six weeks.”
Isabella was assisted by her twin sister Sophia in relearning how to walk.
To raise money for Duke Children’s Hospital & Health Center, Isabella intends to chronicle her journey in a new YouTube series.
“It has been difficult to keep it quiet for the past two months or so. It’s difficult to always keep in, so I don’t want to hide it anymore,” she stated on GMA. “I hope to just sort of have a voice, and be [someone] who possibly [those who] are going via chemotherapy or radiation can look at.”
She continued by saying that the encounter had changed her perspective on life. “Viewpoint is really important,” she stated. “I’m appreciative. I am happy to be able to walk, see friends, or engage in other activities because it truly affects you when you are unable to do so.”
Michael’s perspective on life has also changed. “You learn that you are probably not as strong as you believed you were when you have to truly think about the real things, and I’ve realized that I require assistance from everybody,” he stated on GMA. You may think, ‘I’m the family father, the tough guy, the athlete, I can come and handle it.’ None of that is relevant to this. That is unimportant. And it’s caused me to reevaluate a lot of aspects of my life.”
ABC broadcasts Good Morning America on weekdays starting at 7 a.m. ET.