Michael Strahan Shares Heartbreaking News About One of His Daughters

Our hearts go out to the family of GMA’s Michael Strahan. This morning, he and his daughter Isabella sat down with his co-host Robin Roberts to share the news that Isabella is currently undergoing treatment for a brain tumor.

“This is something that is so personal that I didn’t know if it would be something that she would want to share,” Strahan told Roberts on air Thursday morning. “But her idea was, ‘I want to share it, and I want to help other people,’ and that goes into the spirit of who she’s always been.”

Isabella, 19, a student at the University of Southern California, says she initially thought her headaches, nausea and trouble walking were symptoms of vertigo. But when she woke up vomiting blood, she knew something was definitely wrong.

An MRI revealed that a four-centimeter tumor had developed in the back of Isabella’s brain. Doctors diagnosed her with medulloblastoma, a cancerous tumor that develops at the base of the skull. According to the Mayo Clinic, medulloblastoma is the most common cancerous brain tumor in children. Although it can be diagnosed at any age, it’s most commonly found in young children ages 5 to 9.

Isabella underwent surgery to remove the tumor in late October, followed by radiation treatment and rehabilitation. She’s set to begin chemotherapy at Duke University in February. Luckily, she’ll have lots of support nearby: her twin sister Sophia is currently a freshman there.

Isabella plans to share her journey with others on a YouTube series she’s launching in partnership with Duke Children’s Hospital & Health Center. She hopes to be source of strength and inspiration to other young people living with cancer.

“With my platform, I hope to just kind of be a voice and be a person who people who maybe are going through something similar, going through chemotherapy or radiation, can look at and just hear and just watch, or find something interesting about their day,” she said. “I’m just excited for that.”