(VIDEO)Michael Strahan’s Daughter Opens Up About Her Battle with Brain Cancer
Michael Strahan’s daughter, Isabella, recently shared a candid update on her ongoing battle with brain cancer. In a heartfelt vlog on her YouTube channel titled “Vlog 8: Recovering from Chemo at home,” the brave 20-year-old detailed the intense physical pain she is experiencing during her treatment journey.
Isabella expressed the excruciating agony she feels, describing it as similar to a “heart attack.” She shared her struggle to alleviate her headache, even resorting to using an ice pack on her newly shaved head. “Everything hurts,” she confessed, mentioning the strain on her eyes, mouth, and jaw.
“My eyes are strained. They hurt when I look to the sides. My whole mouth feels like I just had a giant root canal for every single tooth, and they were all ripped out without any surgical replacements,” Isabella shared. “My jaw hurts, and even the bottom of my tongue hurts when I gulp water.”
Isabella bravely admitted that she would prefer radiation or brain surgery over chemotherapy due to the extreme pain it inflicts on her body. “This journey is the longest and the hardest,” she explained while expressing her concerns about potential complications during her treatment. The fear of the unknown weighs heavily on her mind, with worries like, “What if my heart hurts? What if my eyes stop working? What if my teeth rot and fall out?”
Despite the immense challenges she faces, Isabella is grateful to be back home and sleeping in her own bed. While she felt secure in the hospital, she cherishes the comfort of familiar surroundings. The vlog also included glimpses of Isabella’s hospital stay and cherished moments with her father, Michael Strahan, and twin sister, Sophia.
Isabella’s update comes after she and her father publicly disclosed her diagnosis in an emotional segment on Good Morning America. She recounted the initial symptoms she experienced, such as headaches and nausea, which she didn’t think much of until the alarming moment when she woke up vomiting blood. After a series of tests, doctors diagnosed her with a malignant brain tumor called a medulloblastoma. Michael Strahan’s absence from Good Morning America for over three weeks was due to “personal family matters,” although he did not disclose specifics at the time.
Despite the challenges she faces, Isabella remains resilient. She completed her last round of radiation in January after freezing her eggs in response to her diagnosis. Our thoughts are with Isabella and her family during these trying times.