Michael Strahan says ‘it’s tough’ for him to see daughter Isabella battle fever amid her tumor diagnosis
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA: Michael Strahan opened up about his daughter Isabella Strahan’s recent setback in her ongoing battle with a brain tumor as she had to face complications during her chemotherapy treatment.
The 'Good Morning America' co-host said on Wednesday, February 21, that his 19-year-old daughter had to be hospitalized for three days due to a recurring fever, which he described as “a little rough.”
Isabella Strahan is ‘fighting through’ chemotherapy
Michael Strahan said that his daughter, who was diagnosed with a malignant brain tumor called medulloblastoma in October, is “fighting through” the side effects of chemotherapy, which she started this month at Duke University Hospital.
He said that he was hopeful that she would be able to return home soon and that he was proud of her strength and resilience.
"The last three days have been a little rough because she had a fever that kind of comes and goes," Michael Strahan on 'GMA.'
He said, "I had to take her to the hospital and thought she'd come home a few hours later."
However, Strahan said, "But It has been three days since. but hopefully she'll be home today."
Michael Strahan says his daughter Isabella Strahan is a 'tough young lady'
Even as Micheal Strahan cannot witness her go through the recent complications he takes comfort in the fact that her daughter is a fighter.
“It is tough to see her go through it, but I know she’s a tough young lady and she’s going to make it through it,” he said of his daughter, one of his four children.
Isabella Strahan has been sharing her experience with her brain tumor and her treatment on her YouTube channel, where she posts videos from her hospital room and her home.
"My head hurts. I have ice on my head. I feel like I'm having a heart attack," Isabella said in one of her recent videos.
How did Isabella Strahan learn of her tumor?
Before Strahan was diagnosed with a brain tumor, she told 'GMA' in January about the symptoms which happened shortly after she started her freshman year at the University of Southern California.
"I didn't notice anything was off 'til probably like October 1," she said, adding "That's when I definitely noticed headaches, nausea, couldn't walk straight."
Shrugging it off as vertigo, her condition worsened on October 25 when she threw up blood and her family encouraged her to have a checkup.
Following the MRI, doctors discovered Isabella had developed a fast-growing tumor in the back of her brain. It measured four centimeters, larger than a golf ball.
She went under emergency surgery to remove the mass on October 27, a day before her 19th birthday. Isabella underwent several rounds of radiation treatment, as well as a month of rehabilitation.
Michael Strahan thanks everyone for their support
Michael Strahan said that he and his daughter have been overwhelmed by the support they have received from their friends, family, and strangers.
He said many people have reached out to them and thanked them for sharing their story, which they did publicly in an interview with Robin Roberts on 'GMA' in January.
“I think, for her, so many people have reached out and said, ‘I’m glad you’re doing this.’ ‘Thank you for doing this.’ ‘This has really helped us,’ and all that support that she is getting from people she doesn’t know, on top of people that she does know, has kept her in a very positive space,” Michael Strahan said, adding “So thank you to everybody.”
