Michael Strahan and his daughters Isabella and Sophia open up in this week's PEOPLE cover story about Isabella's strength and resilience in battling a brain tumor at age 19. After going through multiple rounds of radiation, grueling chemotherapy and several surgeries, Isabella, now 20, is cancer-free. The Strahan family shares the story of her battle in this week’s PEOPLE, ahead of an upcoming ABC special: Life Interrupted: Isabella Strahan's Fight to Beat Cancer, airing Feb. 5 at 10 p.m. and the next day, Feb. 6 on Disney+ and Hulu.
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00:00To see her struggle with the chemo and like, I don't think I can do this anymore,
00:03I feel this way, I feel that way, I'm just not well. As a parent, you're like,
00:10you've got to go through it. There's nothing. You're so used to having a parent fixing things
00:13and taking care of things, especially something that hurts your child, and here you can't do
00:17anything. You're at the mercy of doctors and medicine and science, and you just have to sit
00:23there and hold her hand, support her, get her cups of ice and water, and just tell her you're
00:28going to be okay. There were times where she got emotional about it and it kind of hit her,
00:34but I wouldn't say that you were depressed. I think that there were some depressing moments
00:39that you had, but I think overall, one of the things that she said to me one time,
00:45probably the hardest thing I ever had to hear was, you know, Dad, I'll do whatever I want to live,
00:49and it was like... Like when did I say that? Yeah, I don't know if you realize, but you said
00:55that and it shocked me, and usually I cry when I tell people that, but I'm trying to hold it
00:59together for you. But yeah, that was like a wow moment, but it was also a reassuring moment
01:07because I knew she wouldn't quit. She was going to fight, and she did.