Michael Strahan's daughter has opened up after being diagnosed with brain cancer.
In an interview on Good Morning America alongside her father, 19-year-old Isabella broke down in tears while talking of her illness, stating that she had to undergo emergency surgery after doctors found a tumor bigger than a golf ball growing at the back of her brain.
The procedure, which took place a day before her 19th birthday, came shortly after the teenager was diagnosed with medulloblastoma, a common malignant tumor that arises in the base of the skull.
"I'm feeling good. Not too bad," said Isabella, who is set to begin her first round of chemotherapy at Duke Children's Hospital & Health Center in North Carolina. "That's my next step. I'm ready for it to start and be one day closer to being over.
"I'm very excited for this whole process to wrap," she continued. "But you just have to keep living every day, I think, through the whole thing."
"I literally think that, in a lot of ways, I'm the luckiest man in the world, because I've got an amazing daughter," Michael, 52, said in the interview alongside his fellow GMA co-anchor Robin Roberts. "I know she's going through it, but I know that we're never given more than we can handle and that she is going to crush this."
Isabella then opened up about the symptoms she started experiencing during her freshman year at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles right before her official diagnosis.
"I didn't notice anything was off 'til probably like October..." she said. "That's when I definitely noticed headaches, nausea, couldn't walk straight."
While the teen initially passed it off as vertigo, by the end of the month, her condition deteriorated to the point where she was throwing up blood.
"That was when we decided, 'You need to really go get a thorough checkup,'" her father said. "And thank goodness for the doctor. I feel like this doctor saved her life because she was thorough enough to say, 'Let's do the full checkup.'"
Soon enough, medical professionals discovered what was causing such discomfort for Isabella - a 4 centimeter tumor which was growing at a rapid pace at the back of her head.
"It didn’t feel real," Michael recalled when he first heard the diagnosis. "I don't really remember much. I just remember trying to figure out how to get to [Los Angeles] ASAP.
"It’s still scary because it's still so much to go through," he added. "And the hardest thing to get over is to think that she has to go through this herself."
After her surgery, Isabella underwent a further series of tests which involved radiation treatment, as well as rehabilitation.
"I got to ring the bell yesterday," Isabella told the interviewer. "It was great. It was very exciting because it's been a long 30 sessions, six weeks."
And all throughout her journey, her twin sister Sophia stood by her, aiding her through the entire process.
Isabella concluded by revealing that despite the challenges, this has given her a new outlook on life.
"Perspective is a big thing," she said. "I'm grateful. I am grateful just to walk or see friends or do something, 'cause when you can't do something, it really impacts you."
Michael agreed, adding: "You learn that you're probably not as strong as you thought you were when you have to really think about the real things, and I realized that I need support from everybody.
"You think, 'I'm the athlete, the tough guy, you know, I can come and handle, I'm the father in the family. It is not about any of that. It doesn't matter. And it's really made me change my perspective on so many things in my life," he said during the interview.
Our thoughts are with Isabella and her family during her recovery process.
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