For the past two months, Michael Strahan’s 19-year-old daughter Isabella has been courageously fighting medulloblastoma, a type of brain tumor. In a sit-down interview on “Good Morning America,” Michael and Isabella Strahan talk about their decision to share her health issue publicly, hoping to raise awareness and provide support to others facing similar challenges.
Isabella Strahan, a freshman at the University of Southern California, received her diagnosis of medulloblastoma after an MRI scan in October. Medulloblastoma is a fast-growing brain tumor that develops in the cerebellum, the region responsible for movement and coordination. She is currently receiving treatment at the prestigious Preston Robert Tisch Brain Tumor Center at Duke University.
Despite the difficulties she has faced, Isabella Strahan has chosen not to hide her cancer journey. As a model who recently launched a campaign with Sephora, she understands the power of visibility and hopes that by sharing her story, she can inspire and support others going through similar battles. Isabella’s resilience and determination serve as an inspiration to many. She told host Robin Roberts, “With my platform, I hope to just kind of be a voice and be a person who people who maybe are going through something similar, going through chemotherapy or radiation, can look at and just hear and just watch, or find something interesting about their day,” she said. “I’m just excited for that.”
During the interview, Michael Strahan told Roberts that it was his daughter’s decision to share her journey with the world, “This is something that is so personal that I didn’t know if it would be something that she would want to share,” Strahan said. “But her idea was, ‘I want to share it and I want to help other people,’ and that goes into the spirit of who she’s always been.”
As strong as both Michael and Isballea are, the two shared how difficult it was to go through this experience. Isabella explained that she initially thought she had vertigo when she looked up her symptoms online. However, her health quickly took an even more unexpected turn.
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“I was throwing up blood,” Isabella recalled of one afternoon. “I was like, ‘Hmm, this probably isn’t good.’ So I texted [my sister], who then notified the whole family.” From there that’s when Michael insisted she needed to be further evaluated.
“That was when we decided, ‘You need to really go get a thorough checkup,’” the GMA co-anchor shared. “And thank goodness for the doctor. I feel like this doctor saved her life because she was thorough enough to say, ‘Let’s do the full checkup.’”
Following an MRI, Isabella soon received a life-changing call. “She calls me and she’s like, ‘You need to head to Cedars-Sinai [Medical Center] right now,’” she shared of her physician. “I’m gonna meet you there.’”
In late October, Isabella had to do an emergency surgery to remove the mass, sharing that she had recently finished radiation therapy.
After her intense recovery where she had to learn how to walk again, Isabella says “I got to ring the bell yesterday,” she told Robin Roberts. “It was great. It was very exciting because it’s been a long 30 sessions, six weeks.” She’s still in the process of treatment and will begin chemotherapy next month.
In addition to her amazing YouTube channel where she’s sharing her experience with people around the world, Isabella says she’s looking forward to getting back to her normal routine like going back to school.
“I’m looking forward to getting back to college and moving back to California and just starting my school experience over,” she said. “Not over, but just restarting, being back into a routine and something that’s enjoyable.”
As for her strong dad, the former athlete said,“I literally think that in a lot of ways, I’m the luckiest man in the world because I’ve got an amazing daughter,” he noted. “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.”
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