Robin Roberts gave Michael Strahan advice when his daughter Isabella had brain cancer

Over the course of a year later, Isabella Strahan, now 20, was diagnosed with an aggressive brain cancer, her father, Good morning America Med-anchor Michael Strahan still remembers the words his Colleague, Robin Roberts, also a cancer survivor, once told him.

“Robin told me something that really helped,” Michael tells People in an exclusive interview.

“She said, ‘You think that when you have cancer, you will wake up every day and think, oh, I have cancer.’ But she said, ‘At one point you wake up and just live. You don’t even think about it. ” ‘

“I can’t wait for Isabella to come back to that point,” says Michael. “When she feels ‘I’m back to the normal me.’ And I think to will be a moment of completion. She is already back in school, but back to the place she feels normal again and this does not even cross her mind. “

Michael, Isabella and her twin sister Sophia, share their remarkable story in this week’s people – from Isabella’s diagnosis of medulloblastoma in September 2023, just as she began college, through months of radiation and violent chemotherapy, to ring the bell to mark that She was cancer -free in June 2024.

Her story of survival – and the power of her family’s love will also be shown in an upcoming ABC special Life interrupted: Isabella Strahan’s fight against CanceR, released February 5 at. 22.00. and on Disney and Hulu + on February 6th.

“As a parent, you’re used to being able to protect your child through something, and here’s a situation where you can’t,” says Michael. “You have to be a cheerleader and it was tough – because it eats you up inside too.

Currently, Isabella will continue to have cancer scans every three months, and then eventually, every six months to one year.

Now back at USC, where she has a major in communication, Isabella hopes to use her experience to help others – something she has already started with a series of YouTube vlogs Filmed in rea-time and now associates with co-cancer patients, survivors and their families as part of an independent study.

And the moment Robin Roberts once described for his father is getting closer.

Says Isabella, “My diagnosis, I think it’s important not to forget it’s part of me, but it doesn’t define me.

“This has certainly changed my thinking,” she continues. “If there is an option I will take it. And this has shown me how important family is.”

“I had a good attitude before,” she continues, “but I want you to have a really positive view of life now – because you never know what anyone could go through – the next day can change everything.”