Michael Strahan reflected on the hardest moments of watching his daughter Isabella’s battle with brain cancer over the last 18 months in an emotional new interview.
The New York Giants hero and co-host of Good Morning America was joined by his daughters, Isabella and twin sister Sophia, to reflect on what his family have been through in a new interview with People.
Isabella had surgery for a brain tumor on her 19th birthday in October 2023 before undergoing rounds of chemotherapy and radiotherapy, as well as needing two follow-up surgeries after getting an infection from the initial operation.
Isabella, an aspiring model, was rushed in for surgery in California on a tumor the size of a golf ball after suffering excruciating headaches and later began vomiting blood.
‘I knew she wouldn’t quit,’ Strahan said. ‘She was going to fight – and she did.’
But Strahan said that seeing his daughter struggling so much with the impact of her treatment was heartbreaking.
‘She wasn’t eating much. She was thin and tired and bald and all the things you hate to see your kid go through,’ he said. ‘I don’t know how she did it.
‘I was struggling myself with it. I always say that she is a lot stronger than I am.
‘Her spirit was there. One of the things she said, probably the hardest thing I had to hear was, “Dad I’ll do whatever. I want to live.” I normally cry when I tell people that but I am trying to hold it together for you.
Now, Isabella is recovering well and there is a lot more optimism around the family around the what the future holds.
‘Her doctors feel very confident, she’s going to be fine,’ he said. ‘That’s what we’re going to hold on to, but you’re nervous every time.
‘That will never go away but as long as the results come back positive, then we’ll live to fight another day.’
Over the recent holidays, Isabella was in the Caribbean with Sophia and shared pictures on social media celebrating her return to health from the Bahamas.
MORE TO FOLLOW
