Hours after Michael Strahan's daughter Isabella revealed she had been diagnosed with a brain tumor, her twin sister Sophia has praised the teen, sharing how "proud" she is of the USC student and model. "I’m so lucky to have the most amazing sister and best friend in the world," Sophia posted on social media alongside a carousel of pictures of the two together taken in recent months, including one of Isabella in a hospital bed and Sophia masked up lying next to her.
"The last few months have been so much harder than we could have ever imagined, but it’s made me realize just how strong you are. You inspire me and I’m so proud of you. Us forever."
"Best sister," Isaballe replied in the comments, while friends including Skai Jackson and Bella Garcia left heart emojis.
Sophia's decision to post the pictures comes as Isabella revealed in her first video post for her blog that she had been reluctant to take pictures by herself as the treatment had left her feeling not "like myself".
"I just had a Sephora ad come out, that I shot in May 2023. So it’s super exciting but I remember being so excited to go to the store and take a selfie with it and I can’t do that right now because I don’t really feel like myself or that person in the ad,” she admitted in the video.
“These past two months, it’s been rough. It’s been challenging and it’s been very hard but I know I’ll get through it. I know time will heal and things will get back to being — I can’t really say normal because there’s not really normal now in my life, but things will get back to being calmer."
Isabella, who started college at University of Southern California in Los Angeles last fall, and has also been enjoying a blossoming career as a model, was diagnosed with medulloblastoma in late October 2023; it is the most common type of cancerous brain tumor in children, which first stems from the lower back part of the brain, the cerebellum.
"I didn't notice anything was off till probably like October 1," the college freshman told Good Morning America's Robin Robert in an emotional interview with her father on January 11. She began throwing up every morning, and feeling dizzy, until one day she threw up blood and messages Sophia for advice. After her father encouraged her to go to the doctor and have a round of tests, they discovered a fast-growing four-centimeter tumor – larger than a golf ball – in the back of her head.
On October 27, one day before her 19th birthday, she underwent surgery at Cedars-Sinai, and the following month saw her face radiation, rehabilitation, and learning to walk again. She has now left California and will be a patient at Duke Children's Hospital & Health Center in Durham, North Carolina – her twin sister Sophia attends Duke – to start chemotherapy.
“I just hope anyone who sees this knows that there is a light at the end of the tunnel and that things will get better because every day is another day closer to getting better and closer to feeling better,” she added in her video.
“Progress takes a lot of time… try to see the positive things.”
Isabella and Sophia are Michael's youngest children, whom he welcomed with second wife Jean Muggli. He is also dad to daughter Tanita, 32, and son Michael Jr., 29, from his first marriage to Wanda Hutchins.