Michael Strahan and daughter Isabella Strahan opened up about her brain cancer diagnosis during the January 11 edition of Good Morning America. “I’m feeling good,” Michael’s 19-year-old daughter said. “Not too bad. I’m very excited for this whole process to wrap, but you just have to keep living every day, I think, through the whole thing.”
Isabella recalled how she began experiencing headaches when she started her semester at USC in fall 2023. It wasn’t until October that she began to notice the headaches and that she couldn’t walk straight. At the time, she believed she had vertigo.
Weeks later, Isabella woke up and began throwing up blood. That’s when she went to the hospital and was diagnosed with a 4cm tumor in the back of her brain. The tumor was larger than a golf ball. A day after her diagnosis, she underwent emergency surgery. The surgery happened the day before her 19th birthday. During this time, Michael took a leave of absence from GMA.
.@MichaelStrahan's daughter Isabella opens up about her brain tumor battle, with Michael telling @RobinRoberts: “I know she's going through it, but I know that we're never given more than we can handle and that she is going to crush this.” https://t.co/zZJMG7h8OV pic.twitter.com/3GJE4O4jHj
— Good Morning America (@GMA) January 11, 2024
After her surgery, Isabella began several rounds of radiation treatment. A side effect of the radiation has been the loss of her hair. Isabella told GMA host Robin Roberts that she’s starting chemotherapy at the beginning of February at Duke.
During the interview, Isabella broke down in tears. Michael was right there comforting his daughter. Isabella noted that she’s going to be documenting her journey with cancer in a new YouTube series.
“I know she’s going through it, but I know that we’re never given more than we can handle and that she is going to crush this,” Michael said about his daughter. “As much as I need her, I don’t know what I would do without her.”
Michael admitted that this experience has changed his “perspective on so many things in my life.” Isabella pointed out that she’s just “grateful” to be able to walk and see her friends when she can. When Robin asked Isabella about her plans after getting through this next chapter, she began to cry again. Isabella said she’s “looking forward” to getting back to college in California.
She remembered what her twin sister Sophia Strahan told her: “You have to keep living just because this is happening.” Michael held her hand and told his daughter that she inspires “all of us every single day.”