Isabella Strahan, the 19-year-old daughter of “Good Morning America” co-anchor Michael Strahan, opened up on her father’s show Thursday about undergoing treatment for a malignant brain tumor, which was diagnosed in late October.
The USC freshman also recorded a YouTube video that offered more details about the initial symptoms of her tumor, which is known as a medulloblastoma and is a common malignant tumor that arises in the cerebellum. Strahan underwent emergency surgery at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles to remove the mass on Oct. 27, a day before her 19th birthday, “GMA” reported.
Appearing with her father on “GMA,” Strahan told host Robin Roberts that she’s feeling “good, not too bad.” She’s set to start chemotherapy at Duke Children’s Hospital & Health Center in Durham, North Carolina, next month.
“That’s my next step. I’m ready for it to start and be one day closer to being over,” said Strahan, who is one of the former NFL star’s twin daughters with second wife Jean Muggli.
In her video, Strahan recounted how quickly she went from feeling like a healthy young woman, starting college, to someone beset by a range of ailments she had never experienced before. When she checked in for her freshman year at the University of Southern California in August, she said, “I felt perfectly normal.” She loved getting to know her roommates and was excited about signing with a modeling agency in Los Angeles.
Strahan said in her video that the symptoms — headaches, nausea, dizziness — began in September. “I had headaches. It’s not like headaches. I was dizzy,” Strahan said. “The biggest thing is that I could not walk in a straight line. Every time I was walking, I could not walk in a straight line. So I thought I had vertigo.”
According to the Mayo Clinic, initial symptoms of a medulloblastoma include dizziness, headaches, nausea, poor coordination, unsteady walk and vomiting. This type of tumor, which usually occurs in young children, affects the lower back part of the brain that’s involved in muscle coordination, balance and movement.
Strahan also said she would wake up “most mornings” feeling nauseous and needing to vomit. She thought the nausea could be from the dizziness. On around Oct. 1, she said she flew to New York City to do a photo shoot, presumably for modeling, but she had to cancel because she felt so sick.
“I definitely something was wrong because that had never happened to me,” she said. She said the symptoms “progressed,” and the nausea got bad enough that she was afraid to wake up. In October, she went to see an ear, nose and throat doctor, who thought she might have an inner-ear infection. Strahan said she knew that an ear infection wouldn’t explain the nausea and vomiting.
When she woke up on Oct. 25, she realized her condition had taken a turn for the worse, as she said on “GMA.”
“I woke up, probably at like, 1 p.m., ” she said. “I dreaded waking up. But I was throwing up blood,” she recounted. “I was like, ‘Hm, this probably isn’t good.’ So I texted (my sister), who then notified the whole family.”
Strahan eventually got to Cedars-Sinai, where an MRI revealed that she had a developed a fast-growing tumor, GMA reported. It measured 4 centimeters — larger than a golf ball.
Michael Strahan said he learned the news before his daughter. “It didn’t feel real,” the New York-based anchor said. “I don’t really remember much. I just remember trying to figure out how to get to (Los Angeles) ASAP.”
GMA, citing estimates published in the Journal of Clinical Neuroscience, reported that medulloblastoma is a type of tumor that accounts for about 20% of all childhood brain tumors. About 500 children are diagnosed with medulloblastoma each year.
Following her surgery, Strahan underwent several rounds of radiation treatment, as well as a month of rehabilitation, GMA reported. She recorded her video as part of a YouTube series, in which she will take viewers along on her treatment journey at Duke.
“These past two months, it’s been rough and challenging, but I know I will get through it,” Strahan said. “Anyone who sees this will know there is a light at the end of the tunnel. Every day is another day closer to getting better and feeling better.”