Michael Strahan is opening up about what it felt like for him as a parent when he learned his daughter had brain cancer.
"As a parent, you're scared. Oh my, you're just scared," the father of four and "Good Morning America" co-anchor says in the new ABC special "Life Interrupted: Isabella Strahan's Fight to Beat Cancer," a preview of which aired Thursday on "GMA."
Strahan learned in October 2023 that his then-19-year-old daughter Isabella Strahan had been diagnosed with medulloblastoma, a malignant brain tumor that develops in the cerebellum, or the back of the brain where movement and coordination are controlled.
Isabella Strahan, now 20, is sharing her health journey in the upcoming ABC documentary, which airs Feb. 5.
After undergoing chemotherapy, radiation and two brain surgeries, Isabella Strahan was declared cancer-free by her doctors in July 2024.
In "Life Interrupted," Michael Strahan describes the unknowns around his daughter's diagnosis as "every parent's worst nightmare."
"It never occurred to us that it would be cancer, I'll be honest with you, just looking at the trajectory at that point of her life -- and we have no history of anything bad in the family," Strahan says.
Isabella Strahan opens up about cancer journey in 1st look at new documentaryIsabella Strahan recounts in the documentary how in September 2023, she started noticing she was walking in a zigzag pattern and not walking in a straight line. She says she thought she might have vertigo, but her symptoms continued, and she began experiencing nausea. Then, one day, she says she started throwing up blood.
She says her twin sister Sophia Strahan encouraged her to go to the emergency room, and Michael Strahan sent her to get checked by a doctor.
After Isabella Strahan received a diagnosis of medulloblastoma, her doctors told her they needed to admit her into the hospital immediately and prepare for brain surgery in order to try to remove the brain tumor.
Michael Strahan's daughter Isabella shares health update, announces ABC specialDr. Michelle Israel, an internal medicine specialist and one of Isabella Strahan's doctors, says in the documentary that her prognosis at the time wasn't good.
"She was actually in danger of having a seizure, having a stroke, and potentially dying," Israel says.
Isabella Strahan would go on to document her cancer journey publicly in a series of vlogs on YouTube as she received treatment at the Preston Robert Tisch Brain Tumor Center at Duke University.
Following months of treatment, Isabella Strahan revealed on her YouTube channel she was cancer-free, and in August 2024, she returned to college at the University of Southern California.
"Life Interrupted: Isabella Strahan's Fight to Beat Cancer" will air Feb. 5 on ABC at 10 p.m. ET and the next day on Disney+ and Hulu.
