Michael Strahan’s 19-year-old daughter Isabella is battling a malignant mind tumor generally known as medulloblastoma, the “Good Morning America” co-anchor and his daughter shared Thursday.
“I actually assume that in lots of methods, I am the luckiest man on the planet as a result of I’ve bought an incredible daughter,” Michael Strahan mentioned in an interview together with his fellow co-anchor, Robin Roberts. “I do know she’s going by 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.”
Isabella Strahan was recognized with medulloblastoma in late October, practically one month after she mentioned she started experiencing complications whereas starting her freshman 12 months on the College of Southern California in Los Angeles.
“I did not discover something was off until most likely like Oct. 1,” she mentioned, talking with Roberts. “That is once I positively observed complications, nausea, could not stroll straight.”
Initially, Isabella Strahan mentioned she thought she had vertigo however just a few weeks after noticing her signs, she mentioned she awakened on Oct. 25 and realized her situation had taken a flip for the more severe.
“I awakened, most likely at like, 1 p.m. I dreaded waking up. However I used to be throwing up blood,” she recounted. “I used to be like, ‘Hm, this most likely is not good.’ So I texted [my sister], who then notified the entire household.”
Her signs continued, and Michael Strahan mentioned they inspired Isabella to hunt medical consideration.
“That was after we determined, ‘It is advisable to actually go get a radical checkup,'” he mentioned. “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.'”
“She did an [electrocardiogram, or EKG], there for my coronary heart and like, different stuff, however she did not have an MRI machine, so I went to [get an MRI] some place else,” Isabella Strahan mentioned of the appointment. “After which she calls me and he or she’s like, ‘It is advisable to head to Cedars-Sinai [Medical Center] proper now. I am gonna meet you there.'”
It was there she mentioned docs found she had developed a fast-growing 4-centimeter tumor, bigger than a golf ball, behind her mind.
Michael Strahan mentioned he realized the information earlier than Isabella did and “it did not really feel actual.”
“I do not actually bear in mind a lot,” he mentioned. “I simply bear in mind attempting to determine find out how to get to LA ASAP. And it simply would not really feel actual. It simply did not really feel actual.”
Medulloblastoma is a kind of malignant tumor that accounts for about 20% of all childhood mind tumors, in line with estimates revealed within the Journal of Clinical Neuroscience. About 500 kids are recognized with medulloblastoma annually.
“However hardly ever somebody who’s 18, 19 years previous,” Michael Strahan mentioned. “Nevertheless it’s nonetheless scary as a result of it is nonetheless a lot to undergo. And the toughest factor to recover from is to assume that she has to undergo this herself.”
He continued, “Medical doctors mentioned, ‘You should not threat attempting to place her on a aircraft to get her to the East Coast or to a different physician. We all know what it’s and we must always get it out as quickly as potential.'”
MORE: Michael Strahan’s daughter battles mind tumor: What to learn about medulloblastoma
On Oct. 27, the day earlier than her nineteenth birthday, Isabella Strahan underwent emergency surgical procedure at Cedars-Sinai to take away the mass.
She mentioned her recollection of her restoration afterward stays foggy, and he or she needed to learn to stroll once more with the assistance of her twin sister Sophia.
“She was closely medicated, as you would think about,” Michael Strahan mentioned. “However she would have conversations. She had lots of her mates and they’d come over simply to take a seat along with her. And there have been occasions when she was in lots of ache. She was sleeping loads.”
After surgical procedure, Isabella Strahan additionally underwent a month of rehabilitation and several other rounds of radiation remedy.
“So I simply completed radiation remedy, which is proton radiation, and I bought to ring the bell yesterday,” she mentioned. “It was nice. It was very thrilling as a result of it has been an extended 30 classes, six weeks.”
Though she mentioned her remedy left her feeling fatigue, some nausea and dizziness, amongst different unintended effects, she mentioned she is “feeling good” total nowadays.
“I am feeling good. Not too dangerous. And I am very excited for this complete course of to wrap. However you simply need to maintain residing each day, I believe, by the entire thing,” she mentioned.
In February, Isabella Strahan will begin chemotherapy at Duke Kids’s Hospital & Well being Middle in Durham, North Carolina.
“That is my subsequent step. I am prepared for it to begin and be in the future nearer to being over,” she mentioned.
Though she has stored this a part of her life non-public on-line, she mentioned she is now able to companion with Duke to doc her journey in a new YouTube series, which is able to assist Duke Kids’s.
“It has been like, two months of maintaining it quiet, which is unquestionably tough,” she mentioned. “I do not wanna disguise it anymore ‘trigger it is exhausting to at all times maintain in. I hope to only type of be a voice, and be [someone] who individuals, perhaps [those who] are going by chemotherapy or radiation can take a look at.”
Each Michael and Isabella Strahan say this expertise has given them a brand new perspective on the essential issues in life.
“You study that you just’re most likely not as robust as you thought you had been when it’s important to actually take into consideration the true issues, and I spotted that I want help from all people,” Michael Strahan mentioned. “You assume that I am the athlete, the powerful man, you understand, I can come and deal with, I am the daddy within the household. It isn’t about any of that. It would not matter. And it is actually made me change my perspective on so many issues in my life.”
“Perspective is an enormous factor,” Isabella Strahan added. “I am grateful. I’m grateful simply to stroll or see mates or do one thing, ‘trigger when you possibly can’t do one thing, it like, actually impacts you.”
MORE: Michael Strahan celebrates daughter’s 1st main modeling marketing campaign: ‘So proud’
For now, Isabella Strahan mentioned she’s targeted on the longer term and ultimately returning to school when her remedy wraps up.
“I am wanting ahead to getting again to school and transferring again to California and simply beginning my faculty expertise over. Not over, however simply restarting, being again right into a routine and one thing that is pleasing,” she mentioned.
