Michael Strahan’s 19-year-old daughter Isabella shares brain tumor diagnosis in emotional interview
ABC News and Fox Sports host Michael Strahan’s daughter Isabella is battling a malignant brain tumor, they announced Thursday on "Good Morning America."
The type of tumor is known as medulloblastoma. The 19-year-old shared her story on "GMA" after months of keeping the situation private.
"I literally think that in a lot of ways, I'm the luckiest man in the world because I've got an amazing daughter," Strahan said during an emotional joint interview with Robin Roberts.
"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," he said. "I don’t know what I would do without her."
Isabella, a first-year student at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles, was diagnosed with medulloblastoma in October after experiencing headaches.
"That’s when I definitely noticed headaches, nausea, couldn't walk straight," she said, noting that she initially thought it was vertigo after until her symptoms got worse.
"I dreaded waking up, but I was throwing up blood," Isabella said. "I was like, 'Hmm, this probably isn't good.’"
Isabella’s sister then alerted their family, and she was encouraged to seek medical attention.
"Thank goodness for the doctor. I feel like this doctor saved her life," Michael Strahan said.
Isabella recalled getting an EKG and MRI before receiving a life-changing phone call from the doctor.
"She's like, 'You need to head to Cedars-Sinai right now. I'm gonna meet you there,'" Isabella said.
She went to Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles and learned she had a fast-growing tumor in the back of her brain. Michael Strahan said it didn’t "feel real" at the time.
The mass, which was larger than a golf ball, was removed on Oct. 27 during emergency surgery. The procedure occurred a day before her 19th birthday.
A month of rehabilitation followed, and then multiple rounds of radiation treatment.
"I just finished radiation therapy, which is proton radiation," Isabella Strahan said. "It was very exciting because it's been a long 30 sessions, six weeks…. I'm feeling good. Not too bad. And I'm very excited for this whole process to wrap."
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Isabella’s next step is chemotherapy at Duke Children's Hospital & Health Center in North Carolina. She will document her experience in an upcoming YouTube series in partnership with Duke.
"I'm looking forward to getting back to college and moving back to California and just starting my school experience over. Not over, but just restarting, being back into a routine and something that's enjoyable," Isabella said.
Medulloblastoma accounts for 20% of all childhood brain tumors and roughly 500 children are diagnosed on a yearly basis, ABC reported, citing the Journal of Clinical Neuroscience.