'Dad, I Want to Live'

In 2023 Michael Strahan's 19-year-old daughter Isabella was diagnosed with an aggressive brain cancer. Following multiple surgeries, radiation and chemotherapy, she's cancer-free. Now, in a revealing new interview, Michael, Isabella and her twin, Sophia, recount the harrowing ordeal and the words Michael will never forget:

- LIZ MCNEIL

As his daughter Isabella lay in a hospital bed after another grueling round of chemo, Michael Strahan remembers “looking to find the silver lining somewhere, some light at the end of the tunnel.” It was early 2024, and for the past six months his then 19-year-old had been battling brain cancer. Following several surgeries, six weeks of radiation and four rounds of chemotherapy, “she was thin and tired and bald and all the things you hate to see your kid go through,” says the Good Morning America coanchor. “But her spirit was there. One of the things she said—probably the hardest thing I had to hear—was ‘Dad, I’ll do whatever. I want to live.’ So I knew she wouldn’t quit,” adds the 53-year-old pro football Hall of Famer. “She was going to fight, and she did.”

Diagnosed with medulloblastoma, an aggressive form of brain cancer that most often occurs in children and teens (see sidebar), Isabella completed her treatment last June and was declared cancer-free in July. “Untreated, she would have been dead within the next few weeks, no doubt,” says neuro-oncologist Dr. David Ashley, who oversaw Isabella’s care at Duke Children’s Hospital in Durham, N.C. “I’m impressed by her resilience.”

As is her entire family: Michael, her mom, Jean Muggli (the couple divorced in 2006 after seven years of marriage), and her twin sister, Sophia, all of whom were there at her side throughout the ordeal. (Michael also has two older children from his first marriage: Michael Jr., 30, and Tanita, 33.) “Everyone came together to pause their life for mine,” says Isabella, now 20. “They gave me a lot of strength.”