GMA’s Michael Strahan addresses ‘painful’ trauma of watching daughter battle brain cancer

In an interview with Town & Country, former Super Bowl champion turned “Good Morning America” anchor Michael Strahan and his daughter, Isabella Strahan, opened up about her yearlong battle with brain cancer.

In October 2023, Isabella Strahan, then 19 years old, was diagnosed with medulloblastoma in her cerebellum. Over the last year, she underwent several round of treatment and surgeries.

She’s now cancer-free and back to school at USC.

“I get to start my freshman year again, and I hope I’m there for longer than 50 days this time,” Isabella Strahan told Town & Country.

Michael Strahan is also excited to see his daughter back at school.

“I can’t wait for her to be back at college and live, to get back to what she was doing before and have fun, sororities, football games,” Michael Strahan said, adding, “and most of all, go to class and get great grades.”

Having just celebrated her 20th birthday alongside her twin sister, Sophia Strahan, Isabella Strahan admitted that she feels “like I’m 50 years old, with all this life experience.”

“I feel like I’ve grown in many ways,” she told Town & Country. “I’m super-­grateful for walking and talking again. You don’t think of the things you can do until you live without them.”

“As a parent, to see that was unsettling at times,” Michael Strahan said, admitting he was terrified his daughter would die.

“As a parent you hear that your kid has cancer and you go, ‘Whoa.’ You have to control your thoughts, because your brain thinks of the worst-case scenario, and then you work your way back from there. I don’t think I’ll go through the rest of my life without some worry in some shape or form about this.”

Calling it “tough and painful” to watch his daughter endure those hardships, he also noted that “throughout this entire journey, Isabella has inspired and helped us all by how she has approached what she was facing. She has worked so hard, and with such amazing spirit.”

Although cancer-free, Isabella Strahan is still on her recovery journey.

At the time of the interview, she is still actively trying to gain back the weight she lost during her treatments, dealing with double vision and issues with her balance.

And as she continues to heal, the college student told Town & Country that she is maintaining a healthy diet and undergoing MRIs every two months to ensure nothing changes.

“My doctors have told me they don’t think it will recur, which is very reassuring.”