Source: GMA, ABC / ABC
In a somber interview on Thursday, Good Morning America host Michael Strahan opened up about a hardship his family has been dealing with for months.
One of his twin daughters, Isabella, shared that she was diagnosed with medulloblastoma, a malignant brain tumor, in October 2023 and decided to sit with her father by her side and speak to Robin Roberts.
It began in September when she suffered from terrible headaches that eventually became worse and even more debilitating.
Her family eventually convinced her to get checked out at the hospital to determine the issue, which she initially chalked up to vertigo.
“I didn’t notice anything was off until probably, like, Oct. 1,” Isabella Strahan told Roberts. “That’s when I definitely noticed headaches, nausea, couldn’t walk straight.”
On the morning of Oct. 25, she vomited blood, and after visiting doctors and being sent to California’s Cedars-Sinai hospital, it was determined the cause was a fast-growing tumor on the back of her brain that was just slightly larger than a golf ball.
Michael Strahan remembers his first thoughts upon finding out about her diagnosis while being across the country in New York.
“I don’t really remember much; I just remember trying to figure out how to get to LA ASAP,” Michael said. “It just doesn’t feel real.”
He, however, has been stunned at every stage of her health journey, including her positive outlook as the family pushes through it.
“Let people see there is hope, and you have to go into every day with the best attitude, which is what she does,” Michael said. “In a lot of ways, I’m the luckiest man in the world because I’ve got an amazing daughter, and I know she’s going through it, but I know we’re never given more than we can handle and that she’s going to crush this.”
After going to the hospital, she underwent emergency surgery and a month of therapy. Six weeks of radiation followed. Come February, she’ll go through chemotherapy at Duke Children’s Hospital & Health Center in North Carolina.
While hoping to make a full recovery, the thing she’s most looking forward to is getting back to school at USC.
Watch the touching interview above.
