Michael Strahan's daughter Isabella Strahan is dealing with more symptoms amid her second round of chemotherapy for her brain tumor.
On Wednesday, the 19-year-old student and model posted the latest installment of her YouTube series, where she's been sharing her health journey after having emergency surgery in October 2023 to remove a large medulloblastoma — a type of malignant tumor — in her cerebellum.
In the vlog, Isabella is at the Duke Children's Hospital & Health Center in Durham, North Carolina undergoing her second round of chemotherapy. As a nurse accesses the chemo port in her upper stomach, she admitted she’s gotten used to all the preparation for treatment.
Respond to your Lord before the coming of a Day from Allah that cannot be averted. There will be no refuge for you then, nor ˹grounds for˺ denial ˹of sins˺.
(The Quran - Chapter Ash-Shuraa : 47)
“I feel like if you told me I’d be doing this back in the summer, I’d be like, ‘Pshh, I hate needles, what?’ This is my biggest fear. I hate needles,” she said. “But I guess I got used to them.”
Isabella then explained that unfortunately, each trip to the hospital she’s dealing with new symptoms.
“I feel like every time I come here, I’ve got a different problem. Last time it was my head,” she said, referring to the pain she was in resulting in her second craniotomy. “Now, I literally can’t walk without being lightheaded or out of breath.”
“These are completely opposite of symptoms,” she said. “At least when I wanted to cut off my head I could take pain medicine. Now, I can't take anti-exhaustion medicine or something.”
Staying positive, Isabella praised some improvements she’s made. Before, she dealt with a lot of nausea, recalling a moment when she went to Chick-Fil-A and couldn’t eat anything. Now, she jokes she’s “in the mood for food” and is eating two full meals a day.
The vlog then shows Isabella preparing for one of her chemotherapy drugs to be administered, sitting in her hospital room with her hands and feet submerged in buckets of ice.
“We’re icing my feet. It helps prevent neuropathy because Vincristine, one of the chemo drugs I get, that’s a side effect,” she explained. “We’ve got the chemo bags of ice. So I’m gonna put my hands in here for awhile.”
Some types of chemotherapy drugs can cause peripheral neuropathy, which is a set of symptoms caused by damage to nerves that control the sensations and movements of our arms, legs, hands, and feet, according to the American Cancer Society.
Cold therapy, applying ice to the hands and feet, is often done to help patients reduce peripheral neuropathy.
In another vlog this week, Isabella’s twin sister Sophia joined her while doing cold therapy for chemo. She shared a clip of her bare feet and hands in buckets of ice as Sophia teased, “This is what the world wants to see!”
