Michael Strahan has candidly opened up about his daughter's battle against cancer in a new interview. The 53-year-old TV host and former football player got into some of the raw details on how his daughter, Isabella, is dealing with a brain tumor.
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Isabella discovered this tumor on October 2023, worst of all on her 19th birthday. The daughter of the NFL star joined her twin sister Sophia and her father, previous co-host of Good Morning America, in an emotional interview with People.
Michael Strahan Opens Up About Daughter's Battle With Brain Cancer
At 19, doctors diagnosed Isabella with medulloblastoma, a type of fast-growing brain tumor. Now 21 years old, Isabella has undergone radiation, chemotherapy, and surgeries on her road to recovery. It grew to the size of a golf ball, prompting her to be rushed to emergency surgery.
"It was shocking," Strahan recalled after finding out her diagnosis. "We were here in New York getting ready to actually go to California a few days later and...got the call from the doctor that she had a brain tumor and that we should get to California as soon as possible."
Strahan remembered feeling skeptical at such jarring news, despite knowing how sick his daughter was and how severe her headaches were. "It puts you in a state of panic, as a parent, so we scrambled to do everything we could to get to LA immediately."
Isabella then had to get a seven-centimeter tumor pulled out of her brain on her birthday, October 28. The aftermath was the toughest part, as Strahan described. "She wasn't eating much. She was thin and tired and bald and all the things you hate to see your kid go through. I don't know how she did it."
After describing how difficult chemotherapy was, Strahan complimented how strong his daughter was. "I will say, through it all, she was a champ." He then described how amazing Isabella's school friends were and how much they helped her during her recovery.
Strahan also opened up about the toughest thing he ever had to hear as a father. "One of the things that she said to me one time, probably the hardest thing I ever had to hear was you know, 'Dad I'll do whatever. I want to live.'" The former New York Giants player recalled how he typically cried telling people that story, but he held it together during the interview.
"I knew she wouldn't quit, she was going to fight. And she did," he said.
Her twin sister Sophia remembered how tough it was to watch her sister go through that experience. Meanwhile, Sophia got to continue to live a normal life. It was difficult for both of them, especially being twins.
