Michael Strahan has explained why he was absent last year from the anchor desk at “Good Morning America.”
The former NFL player-turned-morning show host said his 19-year-old daughter has been diagnosed with a malignant brain tumor.
“I literally think that in a lot of ways, I’m the luckiest man in the world because I’ve got an amazing daughter,” Strahan said. “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.”
When he was gone from late October to November, it was said he was “dealing with some personal family members,” but no other details were given at the time, Deadline reported. He had also been gone from the Fox NFL Sunday during the same time.
When he returned, co-anchor Robin Roberts said, “Can I just say we have tears of joy because Michael is back here at the desk with us.”
Isabella Strahan found out she had medulloblastoma in October, about a month after she started getting headaches. She was a freshman at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles. She said she suffered from not only headaches but also nausea, and she was unable to walk straight because of what she thought was vertigo. But on Oct. 25, she realized something else was going on.
“I woke up, probably at like, 1 p.m. I dreaded waking up. But I was throwing up blood,” she said on “GMA.” “I was like, ‘Hm, this probably isn’t good.’ So I texted [my sister], who then notified the whole family.”
She wasn’t getting better, so the elder Strahan encouraged his daughter she needed to see a doctor.
Isabella Strahan underwent an electrocardiogram on her heart and other tests, but it wasn’t until she had an MRI that they found out what was causing her symptoms.
“And then she [the doctor] calls me and she’s like, ‘You need to head to Cedars-Sinai [Medical Center] right now. I’m gonna meet you there,” Isabella said.
Doctors found a 4-centimeter tumor, or a mass bigger than a golf ball, in the back of Isabella’s brain. She underwent emergency surgery on Oct. 27 to remove the tumor, followed by a month of rehabilitation and radiation.
“So I just finished radiation therapy, which is proton radiation, and I got to ring the bell yesterday,” Isabella Strahan said “It was great. It was very exciting because it’s been a long 30 sessions, six weeks.”
She said she was feeling good after the treatment despite some bouts of fatigue, nausea and dizziness. She will have to undergo chemotherapy at Duke Children’s Hospital & Health Center, where she is working with the facility to document her battle with cancer for a YouTube series.
Once she is done with treatments, Isabella Strahan plans to return to school.
“I’m looking forward to getting back to college and moving back to California and just starting my school experience over. Not over, but just restarting, being back into a routine and something that’s enjoyable,” she said.
About 500 children are diagnosed with medulloblastoma every year, but someone who is Isabella’s age is rarely diagnosed, Michael Strahan said. According to Johns Hopkins Medicine, “medulloblastoma is a pediatric brain tumor that arises in the cerebellum, a part of the brain located at the base of the skull.” It typically is found in children between the ages of 5 and 9.
Signs of medulloblastoma include:
- Night or morning headaches,
- Walking problems that affect a person’s gait.
- Nausea and vomiting.
- Dizziness.
- Double vision.
- Head bobbing.
- Nystagmus.
- Lethargy or confusion.
- Hydrocephalus.
It is diagnosed after a neurological exam followed by an MRI. Medulloblastomas may look like other brain tumors, but a pathologist can determine what specific type of tumor it is by examining the cells under a microscope, which helps doctors determine a course of treatment. Sometimes doctors perform a lumbar puncture to see if the cancer cells have spread to the patient’s cerebrospinal fluid.
Treatment includes removing the mass and relieving pressure under the skull. Doctors may put in a shunt to drain excess fluid and use steroids to shrink swelling. Radiation and chemotherapy may be done after surgery.