Michael Strahan enjoyed a lengthy football career, mainly featuring him dominating the field as a player.
That led to his numerous accolades and achievements, including multiple Pro Bowl selections, a Super Bowl ring, and being inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
He’s since moved on to a successful entertainment career, including television anchor, analyst, and host jobs.
While he’s used to being an active participant in success and winning, he had to watch and cheer as a bystander during his daughter’s challenging cancer battle.
In Life Interrupted, he appeared with the rest of his family, a documentary that spotlighted his daughter Isabella Strahan’s courageous health journey.
Ahead of the premiere, Michael’s former co-star Sara Haines commented how he was “powerless” during that battle.
Sara Haines spoke about Michael Strahan’s ‘powerless’ situation
During the Behind the Table podcast, The View’s Sara Haines talked to the ABC show’s executive producer Brian Teta about Michael Strahan and his daughter Isabella.
She called Michael and his twin daughters, Isabella and Sophia, “perfect to tell this brave journey.”
“Michael Strahan is a legendary football player. In this country, football players are kings, and he’s a Hall of Famer. He has so much money from a career that went from family and all his contracts to all that he does now. He can’t slow down. He can’t have less than five jobs or he’s pretty much unemployed to himself,” she said.
“He rakes it in. Nothing could have prevented or stopped him. Nothing gave him power to help her more,” Sara said regarding Isabella’s medulloblastoma diagnosis.
She said that he and his family might have access to good doctors and health care due to their connections, but “that doesn’t stop cancer.”
“The journey, the fight, he was powerless,” Sara said during Behind the Table.
She compared her former GMA3 co-star to the late actor Christopher Reeve, who became paralyzed from the neck down after being thrown from a horse during an equestrian competition. That required him to use a wheelchair and ventilator for the rest of his life.
Sara explained that Reeve imparts a powerful message on “two different levels.” The first was him becoming known as Superman to many people for his role in the movies.
The second involved Reeve becoming someone who lobbied for spinal injury research and better insurance coverage for people with disabilities amid his health situation.
“[Michael] was everything we assign as dominance, masculinity, strength. ‘I can do anything.’ But he couldn’t help [his daughter during her battle],” Sara said.
Sara praised Michael’s daughter for taking action in a ‘life-defining moment’
In addition to speaking about Michael’s “powerless” situation with his daughter, Sara talked about how this can be a “life-defining moment” for Isabella.
“I’m so happy to be on this side of it,” she said regarding Isabella’s multiple surgeries along with rehabilitation, radiation, and chemotherapy treatments.
“In some ways, it’s such a life-defining moment. Her whole life could be built around this. Everything from her vlog, going onward. Her appreciation for just a day- just a random Tuesday in any month, will never change now,” Sara told Teta.
Michael appeared on The View last week and warned his former co-star that she might make him cry after she became emotional talking about his situation as a parent with Isabella.
On Wednesday evening, viewers saw Isabella’s story presented in a one-hour documentary on ABC, which featured footage and exclusive interviews from her cancer battle.
At the end of the primetime special, a powerful scene spotlighted Isabella’s ability to inspire and help others.
Three other young adults battling difficult health situations shared how much Isabella inspired them. Isabella snuck into the room behind them to surprise them all, and they met and spoke with her in person during some emotional moments.
The documentary Life Interrupted: Isabella Strahan’s Fight Against Cancer is now available to stream on Disney+ and Hulu. In addition, Isabella has a series of vlogs on her YouTube channel, where individuals can follow the struggles and triumphs of her courageous journey.