Michael Strahan recently shared a video of his daughter Isabella, who was diagnosed with medulloblastoma last year, and her twin sister Sophia laughing and playing with their dog.
Sharing a look at family time? Now that’s always a touchdown for Michael Strahan.
The former New York Giants player recently gave fans a glimpse inside his world by reposting a video to Instagram that showed his 19-year-old twins Isabella and Sophia laughing and playing with their dog Enzo.
“These three are amazing but who is my favorite?” Michael teased in the caption of the May 20 post. “LOL.”
Although, Isabella had an answer for her dad and jokingly replied, “I’m your favorite don’t lie.”
In the video Michael—who is also dad to daughter Tanita, 32, and son Michael Jr., 29—reposted from Isabella’s TikTok, there was a voiceover that said, “Have you ever just looked at someone and say, ‘So this is what love looks like.'”
Fans have been sending Isabella love and support following her diagnosis with medulloblastoma, a cancerous brain tumor, in October 2023.
Since then, the teen has documented her journey—including her multiple surgeries, rounds of chemotherapy, experience with hair loss and day-to-day—on her YouTube and other social media channels.
“I don’t want to hide it anymore ‘cause it’s hard to always keep in,” Isabella explained of her diagnosis in a January interview on Good Morning America. “Just kind of be a voice and be a person people who are maybe going through chemotherapy or radiation can look at and find something interesting about their day.”
And Michael is proud of her for telling her story.
“It’s important to let people see there is hope and you have to just go into every day with the best attitude, which is what she does,” the GMA host added in the interview. “I literally think, in a lot of ways, I’m the luckiest man in the world because I got an amazing daughter. And 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.”
For a recap on what Isabella has shared about her cancer battle so far, keep reading.
Brain Cancer Diagnosis
Isabella Strahan—the daughter of former couple Michael Strahan and Jean Muggli—said she “didn’t notice anything was off” about her health until early October 2023, when she started experiencing headaches and nausea.
After throwing up blood one day, she got a full checkup and MRI scan at the urging of her dad. The results showed medulloblastoma, a malignant brain tumor found in children.
Later that month, she underwent brain surgery to remove the mass.
Radiation Therapy
Following her interview, Isabella shared she had finished her round of radiation therapy.
“I’m very excited to finally be done,” she said in a Jan. 16 YouTube video. “It’s been a long six weeks and I’m very happy to finally heal my head after all of this because the side effects and everything get to you.”
First Chemotherapy Round
Following radiation therapy, Isabella began undergoing chemotherapy to treat her cancer.
“My whole mouth feels like I got one giant root canal,” she shared in a Feb. 16 vlog. “Every single tooth, just ripped out and not even surgically put back in. My jaw hurts, the bottom of my tongue hurts. It hurts when I gulp water.”
Still, the teen kept her spirits up, joking in a video posted a week later that her hair is “insufficient now.”
“Besides being bald,” she said, “it doesn’t bring me pain mentally.”
Chemotherapy Round 2
Isabella shared in a March 21 video that she had started her second round of chemotherapy, meaning there was “just four more” rounds to go.
New Side Effects
Amid her second chemotherapy round, Isabella said she began experiencing difficulties in walking.
“I literally can’t walk without being lightheaded or out of breath,” she shared in a March 27 vlog, lamenting that there isn’t an “anti-exhaustion medicine” she could take.
Roadblock in Her Journey
However, Isabella hit a bump in the road in her treatment plan when she had to undergo a third craniotomy. According to the teen, this procedure was unlike anything she had previously experienced.
“Not going to lie, I’ve been crying a lot,” she detailed in an April 12 vlog. “They sunk a needle in three spots and drained fluid, and I was completely awake for this. So, my first completely awake surgery.”