Michael Strahan's daughter developed headaches when she started at college. They turned out to be symptoms of a fast-growing brain tumor
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- Isabella Strahan, 19, daughter of Michael Strahan, is sharing her brain cancer diagnosis.
- After complaining of headaches, doctors found a tumor that was larger than a golf ball.
- Strahan is sharing her story on YouTube to help others going through anything similar.
Isabella Strahan, the 19-year-old daughter of Michael Strahan, started getting excruciating headaches last October. The symptoms turned out to be a fast-growing cancerous brain tumor known as medulloblastoma.
The University of Southern California freshman noticed something was off in early October, she told Good Morning America in a segment that aired Thursday. "That's when I definitely noticed headaches, nausea, couldn't walk straight," she said.
She said her condition took a turn for the worse on October 25 when she woke up vomiting blood and sought medical help. A MRI scan revealed that she had a malignant tumor larger than a golf ball in the back of her brain. Strahan underwent emergency surgery to remove the mass two days later, a day before her 19th birthday.
After a recovery time of one month, she had thirty rounds of radiation treatment over six weeks. She experienced fatigue and dizziness during her treatment, she told GMA, and will start chemotherapy at Duke Children's Hospital & Health Center in Durham, North Carolina, next month.
"That's my next step. I'm ready for it to start and be one day closer to being over. 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," she told GMA.
She is documenting her experience in a new YouTube series in partnership with the hospital in the hope of helping others going through something similar.
"I hope to just kind of be a voice, and be someone who maybe [those who] are going through chemotherapy or radiation can look at," she told the outlet.
Medulloblastoma develops in the cerebellum, a part of the brain involved in muscle coordination, balance, and movement located. It typically affects young children, and although the condition is rare, it is the most common cancerous brain tumor in children, per Mayo Clinic.
The most common symptoms of medulloblastoma include changes in appetite and symptoms associated with increased pressure on the brain, such as headache, nausea, vomiting, drowsiness, and problems with coordination.