Michael Strahan’s daughter, Isabella Strahan, revealed on Good Morning America that she is receiving remedy for medulloblastoma, a malignant mind tumor affecting the cerebellum.
On Thursday, Isabella and her father candidly mentioned her well being journey, sharing particulars of her October prognosis and the following emergency surgical procedure at Cedars-Sinai to take away a mind mass, which befell a day earlier than her nineteenth birthday.
“I’m feeling good. Not too unhealthy,” mentioned Isabella, who begins chemotherapy at Duke Youngsters’s Hospital & Well being Middle in Durham, North Carolina, subsequent month. “That’s my subsequent step. I’m prepared for it to start out and be at some point nearer to being over. …. I’m very excited for this complete course of to wrap. However you simply should maintain residing day-after-day, I feel, via the entire thing.”
.@MichaelStrahan’s daughter Isabella opens up about her mind tumor battle, with Michael telling @RobinRoberts: “I do know she’s going via it, however I do know that we’re by no means given greater than we will deal with and that she goes to crush this.” https://t.co/zZJMG7h8OV pic.twitter.com/3GJE4O4jHj
— Good Morning America (@GMA) January 11, 2024
“I actually assume that, in plenty of methods, I’m the luckiest man on the planet, as a result of I’ve acquired a tremendous daughter,” Michael advised GMA co-anchor Robin Roberts. “I do know she’s going via it, however I do know that we’re by no means given greater than we will deal with and that she goes to crush this.”
Through the interview, Isabella revealed that she first observed signs of her mind tumor when beginning her freshman yr on the College of Southern California in Los Angeles.
“I didn’t discover something was off ’til most likely like Oct. 1,” she mentioned. “That’s after I undoubtedly observed complications, nausea, couldn’t stroll straight.”
Initially dismissing it as vertigo, Isabella’s well being took a extreme activate October 25 when she awoke within the early hours “throwing up blood.” Urged by her household, she sought fast medical consideration.
“That was once we determined, ‘You have to actually go get an intensive checkup.’ And thank goodness for the physician. I really feel like this physician saved her life as a result of she was thorough sufficient to say, ‘Let’s do the complete checkup,’” defined Michael.
Following a full MRI at Cedars-Sinai, medical doctors recognized a quickly rising tumor at the back of Isabella’s mind, measuring 4 centimeters—bigger than a golf ball.
“It didn’t really feel actual,” he mentioned after studying of the tumor. “I don’t actually bear in mind a lot. I simply bear in mind making an attempt to determine learn how to get to [Los Angeles] ASAP.”
Michael Strahan briefly left GMA to help his daughter throughout her well being disaster, with ABC stating he was coping with “private household issues” on the time.
Michael famous that whereas medulloblastoma is widespread, with round 500 youngsters recognized yearly, it’s thought-about “uncommon” for somebody her age.
“It’s nonetheless scary as a result of it’s nonetheless a lot to undergo,” he confessed. “And the toughest factor to recover from is to assume that she has to undergo this herself.”
After her surgical procedure, Isabella underwent a number of rounds of radiation remedy and a month of rehabilitation.
“I acquired to ring the bell yesterday,” Isabella mentioned. “It was nice. It was very thrilling as a result of it’s been an extended 30 periods, six weeks.”
In response to reviews, Isabella plans on documenting her journey in a brand new YouTube collection to learn Duke Youngsters’s Hospital & Well being Middle.
“It’s been like, two months of retaining it quiet, which is unquestionably tough. I don’t wanna disguise it anymore ’trigger it’s arduous to all the time maintain in,” she mentioned on GMA. “I hope to only form of be a voice, and be [someone] who perhaps [those who] are going via chemotherapy or radiation can have a look at.”
She added that her prognosis has given her a brand new outlook on life. “Perspective is an enormous factor,” she mentioned. “I’m grateful. I’m grateful simply to stroll or see buddies or do one thing, ’trigger when you possibly can’t do one thing, it actually impacts you.”
“You be taught that you simply’re most likely not as robust as you thought you had been when you need to actually take into consideration the true issues, and I spotted that I want help from everyone,” Michael added. “You assume, ‘I’m the athlete, the robust man, you realize, I can come and deal with, I’m the daddy within the household.’ It isn’t about any of that. It doesn’t matter. And it’s actually made me change my perspective on so many issues in my life.”
