(NEW YORK) — One brother is dead while the other managed to survive after the siblings plunged into a freezing cold pond while ice fishing, authorities say.
The incident occurred on Saturday at approximately 2:45 p.m. in the town of Burlington in Ostego County, New York, when a man walking his dog alerted the authorities after seeing two ice fishermen fall through the ice on Basswood Pond, approximately 14 miles west of Cooperstown, according to a statement released by the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation.
“Forest Ranger Laymon was at the Jacobs Road trailhead one minute away from the pond,” officials said. “Ranger Laymon saw one of the men treading water, but lost sight of the other. The ice was approximately one-inch thick, unsafe for fishing.”
Ranger Laymon then entered the ice and managed to crawl toward the two brothers – aged 41 and 42 – and was able to pull the 42-year-old man from Richfield Springs out of the water by using a throw bag.
“The subject grabbed the rope and Ranger Layman pulled him onto a sled,” the DEC said. “At 2:55 p.m., the Ranger pulled the sled to shore where he was met by members of the Edmeston Fire Department, who used their truck to start the drying and warming process to help the subject suffering from hypothermia.”
Officials said that Ranger Laymon immediately returned to the scene of the accident to search for the second brother.
“At 3:05 p.m., Ranger Laymon located the 41-year-old from Richfield Springs in seven to eight feet of water,” said the DEC in their statement. “New York State Police, Otsego County Emergency Services, and Edmeston, Fly Creek, Schuyler Lake, and West Edmeston volunteer fire departments helped pull Ranger Laymon and the submerged man out of the water and onto shore.”
The younger brother was transferred over to EMTs at approximately 3:23 p.m. as medics immediately began CPR in an attempt to revive the man.
Both brothers were taken to the hospital where the 42-year-old was treated and released. The younger brother, however, was declared deceased by the hospital later on Saturday night.
The New York State DEC issued a warning to others interested in ice fishing following the tragic accident.
“Before leaving shore, ice anglers are advised to check the thickness of ice. Four inches of solid, clear ice is usually safe for anglers accessing ice on foot. However, ice thickness can vary between waterbodies and even within the same waterbody, increasing the need to ensure thickness,” authorities said.
(NEW YORK) — Over 1,000 flights have been canceled nationwide Friday as major winter storms prepare to unleash blizzard conditions, flooding rain and tornadoes.
The Midwest and the Great Lakes are in the crosshairs Friday morning.
Blizzard warnings are in effect for six states from Nebraska to Wisconsin, including the major cities of Des Moines, Iowa, and Green Bay, Wisconsin. Strong winds are expected to accompany the snow, creating whiteout conditions, Snowfall could range from 6 to 12 inches.
In Illinois, roads are already covered with snow and visibility is poor.
The National Weather Service in Chicago asked drivers to consider postponing their travel Friday morning.
A ground stop was issued at Chicago O’Hare International Airport Friday morning due to snow and ice.
Chicago O’Hare has canceled more than 650 flights so far.
In the South, the same storm system is producing severe weather such as damaging winds, tornadoes and large hail from Texas to the Carolinas.
On Friday, severe weather is forecast from Mississippi to North Carolina with the bull’s-eye for damaging winds in northern Mississippi, from Jackson to Tupelo.
Tornadoes are possible in Mississippi, Alabama, Tennessee, Florida, Georgia, South Carolina and North Carolina.
The storm will move into the Northeast on Friday night, bringing heavy rain and strong winds. Flood watches have been issued from North Carolina to Massachusetts, where local rainfall amounts of 1 to 3 inches is possible within a short period of time.
Rivers remain swollen in the Northeast from recent rainfall, so the incoming downpour will only prolong flooding issues. New Jersey’s Passaic River reached its crest on Thursday night in the major flood stage. Due to the additional rainfall, the river is forecast to stay in the major flood stage over the weekend and possibly into early next week.
A potentially record-breaking cold blast is moving in behind this storm. Up to 100 record-low temperatures are forecast from the Pacific Northwest to the Gulf Coast this weekend and into next week. The National Weather Service has already issued wind chill alerts for 17 states from Washington to Texas.
In Montana, wind chills — what temperature it feels like — could reach 50s and 60s below zero, during which frostbite could occur in less than five minutes.
Kansas City, Missouri, and Chicago could see temperatures below zero on Sunday, Monday and Tuesday.
The coldest air will reach the Gulf Coast from Texas to Louisiana by Sunday into Monday and will last into Tuesday.
Another storm system is expected to sweep across the country this weekend into early next week with snow and ice possible for the South, from Texas to Tennessee.
This storm is forecast to move into the West on Saturday, bringing heavy snow to the Cascades and northern Sierra mountain ranges, before reaching the Rockies on Sunday, where snowfall amounts could get up to 2 feet.
By Sunday night into Monday, the storm will move into the Deep South with freezing rain and a wintry mix possible for parts of Texas, from Dallas to San Antonio and just north of Houston.
The storm will move into the rest of the South on Monday afternoon and evening with snow and ice possible in Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Georgia.
In this Aug. 24, 2023, file photo, law enforcement officials patrol the edge of Eagle Pass’ Shelby Park, in Eagle Pass, Texas. — Suzanne Cordeiro/AFP via Getty Images, FILE
(EAGLE PASS, Texas) — The state of Texas has seized control of a nearly 50-acre park on the banks of the Rio Grande in Eagle Pass, Texas, against the city’s desires, Mayor Rolando Salinas said.
In a video posted on Facebook by the mayor on Wednesday night, Salinas said officials from the Texas Department of Public Safety informed him that the state is taking “full control” of Shelby Park to prevent migrants from illegally crossing into Texas from Mexico.
“That is not a decision that we agreed to. This is not something that we wanted. This is not something that we asked for as a city, I want to make that clear,” Mayor Salinas said in the video.
Images shot by the mayor showed the entrance to the park blocked off by fencing and military vehicles.
Shelby Park has been at the epicenter of Gov. Greg Abbott’s efforts to deter unlawful crossings. It’s a known staging area for the Texas National Guard and Texas DPS deployed to the border as part of Abbott’s Operation Lone Star.
Salinas said he was informed the state is taking control of the park “indefinitely” under the governor’s border disaster declaration that he renewed in December.
During a conference on Thursday, Salinas said he believed U.S. Border Patrol Agents were being kept from entering the area.
“I’m sure that’s going to be an issue that will be litigated between the federal government and the state governments,” he said.
ABC News has not confirmed those claims.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection did not immediately respond to ABC News’ request for comment.
Gov. Abbott’s office did not respond when asked by ABC News if CBP agents would be blocked from entering the park.
Texas DPS referred ABC News’ questions to the Texas Military Department, which did not respond to requests.
The move follows a visit to the city by Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas on Monday, where he met with CBP agents.
Abbott’s office released a statement, pushing blame on President Joe Biden, “Texas is holding the line at our southern border with miles of additional razor wire and anti-climb barriers to deter and repel the record-high levels of illegal immigration invited by President Biden’s reckless open border policies. Instead of enforcing federal immigration laws, the Biden Administration allows unfettered access for Mexican cartels to smuggle people into our country,” spokesperson Renae Eze said.
“Texas will continue to deploy Texas National Guard soldiers, DPS troopers, and more barriers, utilizing every tool and strategy to respond to President Biden’s ongoing border crisis.”
Salinas says city officials are determining if they have legal options to regain control of the park.
(JACKSON, Miss.) — Residents of Jackson and Flowood, Mississippi, have been advised to boil their water after routine water samples tested positive for E. coli, the state’s health department said Thursday.
“Health officials strongly recommend that all water be boiled vigorously for one minute before it is consumed,” the Mississippi State Department of Health said in boil water alerts issued for both cities. “This precaution will last at least two full days and water system officials will be immediately notified when the boil water alert is lifted.”
The alerts impact nearly 190,000 customers in Jackson, the state capital, and nearly 28,000 customers in the nearby city of Flowood, the state health department said.
The presence of the bacteria could indicate the water may be contaminated with “human or animal wastes,” which “generally results from a problem with the treatment process or pipes which distribute the water,” the health department said.
The state health department said its Public Health Laboratory reviewed lab protocols and the results were not false positives.
The lab is expediting the tests of new samples from both cities. After two consecutive days of clear testing, the boil water alerts will be lifted, health officials said.
“The safety and protection of the public is the top priority of the Mississippi State Department of Health,” the state health department said in a news release. “The MSDH looks forward to its continued partnership with both the City of Jackson and City of Flowood to keep the water systems safe for all their citizens.”
State health officials advise residents of both cities to not drink tap water or drink from water fountains in parks, public or private buildings that receive water from the affected systems while the boil water advisories are in place. They should not use ice unless it’s been made with boiled water.
Impacted residents should wash their dishes, fruits and vegetables with boiled water and brush their teeth with boiled or bottled water.
“Bringing water to a rolling boil for one minute will inactivate all major types of harmful bacteria,” the health department said.
Symptoms of an E. coli infection include severe stomach cramps, watery or bloody diarrhea and vomiting, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Some infections are very mild, but others are severe or even life-threatening, according to the CDC.
(NEW YORK) — Donald Trump walked into the courtroom of his $370 million civil fraud trial Thursday and did exactly what he hoped to do: break all the rules established by the judge in order to deliver a brief closing statement.
Then he walked out scot-free.
The former president’s surprise statement provided a dramatic end to the months-long trial, which threatens to take away the namesake buildings, businesses, and reputation that launched Trump into professional and political stardom. Over an 11-week trial, the New York attorney general alleged that Trump made hundreds of millions of dollars by overstating his assets on his statements of financial condition to get more favorable loan terms.
Judge Arthur Engoron initially issued a non-negotiable directive should Trump elect to speak during closing statements: He could not make political statements, and he could not impugn those involved in the trial, according to emails posted to the court docket Wednesday.
When Trump’s attorneys pushed back against those requirements Wednesday afternoon and refused to agree with the rules, Engoron forbade Trump from speaking.
And yet, when Trump attorney Christopher Kise asked the judge midway through closings Thursday if he would reconsider his decision — and the judge asked Trump if he would stay within the bounds of his requirements — Trump launched right into this statement.
“Well I think, your honor, this case goes outside the facts,” Trump said, ignoring the judge’s edict as he barreled ahead. “This is a political witch hunt that should be set aside.”
“I’m an innocent man. I’ve been persecuted by someone running for office,” Trump said calmly while sitting with his arms clasped at his counsel table. “This statute is vicious. It doesn’t give me a jury. It takes away my rights.”
Trump’s five-minute statement put an exclamation point on a seesaw day of pronouncements and retorts. Here are three main takeaways from the two sides’ closing arguments.
Trump admitted a mistake
In a rare move, amid a torrent of accusations and personal attacks, Trump admitted that his company did make a mistake in his personal statement of financial condition.
“They made a mistake. It was an honest mistake,” Trump said about the decision to value his Trump Tower penthouse as being three times larger than it actually is. The mistake eventually resulted in the property being overvalued by $114 million to $207 million.
Trump’s acknowledgement is likely to play into the judge’s decision later this month, when Engoron will have to determine whether or not the overvaluation was intentional. In a ruling last month, the judge characterized the sizing error and other similar issues as “misstatements at best and fraud at worst.”
Trump’s sons might win
While Trump has stepped away from the real estate business to pursue politics, his eldest sons Eric Trump and Donald Trump Jr. both continue to hold important stakes in the family business. When he issues his ruling, Engoron has the power to limit the ability of Trump and his two sons to conduct business in New York moving forward.
However, during an exchange with a state attorney on Thursday, Engoron signaled that he was not convinced that Trump’s sons had any knowledge of the company’s fraud.
“What evidence do you have — I just haven’t seen it — that they knew that there was fraud?” Engoron asked state attorney Andrew Amer.
“They can’t say they didn’t bother paying attention to it. That is just not a defense,” Amer responded.
Engoron expressed skepticism at Amer’s response and appeared to feel that Donald Trump Jr. particular was unaware of the issues alleged by the attorney general.
The state has a new theory
Faced with the need to prove that the alleged fraud was intentional, state attorney Kevin Wallace’s closing statement unveiled a theory to explain the motive behind it.
Wallace alleged that roughly $775 million in expenses to renovate properties, coupled with the expense of Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign, created a “cash crunch” for the Trump Organization during the period in question. Displaying a chart that he said tracked Trump’s cash flow, Wallace alleged that — had the company not resorted to fraud to get favorable terms on its loans — it would have had a negative cash flow by 2017.
By opting to commit fraud, “They didn’t have to choose between their priorities,” Wallace alleged regarding the company’s business expenses and Trump’s presidential campaign.
Engoron, however, appeared to feel the argument was only conjecture. The alleged fraud also predated the timetable in Wallace’s argument.
The judge said he hoped to issue a final ruling in the case by Jan. 31.
(NEW YORK) — A federal judge has ruled that a lawsuit challenging book bans in Escambia County, Florida, can move forward on the same day the county released an updated list of more than 2,800 individual books that have been pulled from shelves for review.
U.S. District Judge T. Kent Wetherell II ruled on Wednesday that book publisher Penguin Random House, free expression PEN America, authors, and families of Escambia County had standing to pursue their claims under the First Amendment because those protections are implicated when officials remove books based on ideology or viewpoint. However, they were denied to pursue the claims under the 14th Amendment’s Equal Protection Clause.
“We are gratified that the Judge recognized that books cannot be removed from school library shelves simply because of the views they espouse, and are looking forward to moving forward with this case to protect the constitutional rights of the plaintiffs,” Lynn Oberlander of Ballard Spahr, who is representing the plaintiffs, said in a statement.
Escambia County has released a list of 2,812 books — totaling more than 1,500 titles — that have been pulled from shelves for “further review” of their compliance under House Bill 1069 which limits discussion of gender and sexual orientation in grade school as of Jan. 10. These books include “The World Book encyclopedia,” “100 Women Who Made History: Remarkable Women Who Shaped Our World,” “Africa (Cultural Atlas for Young People)” and more.
The previously released round-up of books to be reviewed included Merriam-Webster’s dictionary and Webster’s dictionary and thesaurus.
The lawsuit was brought forward in May 2023 by Penguin Random House, PEN America, authors and families of Escambia County who argue that the school board’s removal and restriction of books violates the First Amendment.
The lawsuit claims the county violated the First Amendment rights of the students, authors, and publishers by “removing books ‘based on ideological objections to their contents or disagreement with their messages or themes.'”
Several authors whose books have been impacted by book bans across the country, including David Levithan, George M. Johnson and Ashley Hope Pérez, are backing the lawsuit.
The lawsuit also alleges, that in every decision to remove a book, “the removals have disproportionately targeted books by or about people of color and/or LGBTQ people, and have prescribed an orthodoxy of opinion that violates the First and Fourteenth Amendments.”
The Board argued in its motion to dismiss the case that it has not banned any books, rather it “‘removed from its own school libraries [books] that the Board had purchased for those libraries with Board funds. It [has] not prohibit[ed] anyone else from owning, possessing, or reading the book[s].'”
The school board claims it “has the ultimate authority to decide what books will be purchased and kept on the shelves of the schools in the district,” according to the motion to dismiss the lawsuit.
House Bill 1069 expanded the Parental Rights in Education law, dubbed the “Don’t Say Gay” law by critics from prekindergarten through grade 8. It was passed by Gov. Ron DeSantis in May 2023.
From grades 9 through 12, such content must be “age-appropriate or developmentally appropriate for students in accordance with state standards.”
Recent legislation in Florida, including the Parental Rights in Education Bill and the Stop WOKE Act, have led to restrictions and removals of books across the state.
The Stop WOKE Act restricts lessons and training on race and diversity in schools and in the workplace, particularly anything that discusses privilege or oppression based on race. WOKE in the bill stands for “Wrongs to Our Kids and Employees.”
Between January 1 and August 31, 2023, the American Library Association recorded 695 attempts to ban library materials and services, affecting 1,915 different book titles. The organization said this marked a 20% increase from the same reporting period in 2022, which saw the highest number of book challenges since ALA began compiling the data more than 20 years ago.
Most of the book challenges in 2023 were against books written by or about a person of color or a member of the LGBTQ community, according to the ALA.
To comply with HB 1069, Escambia County has subject books in school and classroom libraries to be reviewed by district book review committees and the school board.
In several cases, the books approved for use by the district book review committees have been rejected and removed or restricted by the school board. This includes the titles of “All Boys Aren’t Blue,” by George M. Johnson, “Bluest Eye” by Toni Morrison, “Lucky” by Alice Sebold, “And Tango Makes Three,” by Justin Richardson and Peter Parnell, “Push” by Sapphire, and others.
Dozens of books that were challenged by community members were requested by one person, an English teacher at a high school in Escambia County. She cites “indoctrination,” “sexual content,” “violent language,” and “LGBTQ content” among her objections in the more than 100 complaints.
“Ensuring that students have access to books on a wide range of topics and that express a diversity of viewpoints is a core function of public education — preparing students to be thoughtful and engaged citizens,” said PEN America in a statement on the lawsuit.
Escambia County officials did not immediately respond to ABC News requests for comment.
Hunter Biden attends the House Oversight and Accountability Committee markup titled “Resolution Recommending That The House Of Representatives Find Robert Hunter Biden In Contempt Of Congress,” in Rayburn Building on Wednesday, Jan. 10, 2024. (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)
(LOS ANGELES) — President Joe Biden’s son Hunter Biden entered a not guilty plea to 9 felony and misdemeanor tax charges at his initial appearance in a California courtroom on Thursday.
The plea was entered by Hunter Biden himself during an arraignment in federal court in downtown Los Angeles.
His plea came a day after he made a surprise appearance at a Capitol Hill hearing on whether to hold him in contempt of Congress.
The younger Biden is appearing before Judge Mark Scarsi at the Edward R. Roybal courthouse to be arraigned on 9 tax-related charges accusing him of failing to pay $1.4 million in taxes from 2016 to 2019.
The indictment from December alleges that the president’s son earned millions of dollars from foreign entities in Ukraine, Romania and China, and “spent millions of dollars on an extravagant lifestyle at the same time he chose not to pay his taxes.”
The back taxes were eventually paid in 2020 by a third party, identified by ABC News as Hunter Biden’s attorney and confidant Kevin Morris.
The charges came after an initial plea deal fell apart in dramatic fashion in a Delaware federal courtroom last July, after the judge expressed concerns over the terms of the agreement.
Hunter Biden subsequently pleaded not guilty in October to three felony gun charges as part of a separate indictment in Delaware that came after a diversion agreement on one of the gun charges fell apart alongside the initial plea deal. He has since moved to have those charges dismissed.
The indictment was brought by special counsel David Weiss, a Trump-appointed U.S. attorney in Delaware who had been investigating Hunter Biden and was named special counsel over the summer.
In response to the tax charges, Hunter Biden’s attorney, Abbe Lowell, claimed the December indictment included “no new evidence” and said, “Based on the facts and the law, if Hunter’s last name was anything other than Biden, the charges in Delaware, and now California, would not have been brought.”
Hunter Biden’s court appearance in California on Thursday comes a day after he surprised lawmakers in Washington by showing up in person to a House Oversight committee hearing on whether to hold him in contempt after he refused a subpoena to testify in a closed-door session as part of a GOP-led probe into his family’s business affairs.
The younger Biden, whose appearance caught Republicans on the committee completely by surprise, said that he would be willing to testify in a public forum.
Lowell, speaking to reporters after leaving the hearing room Wednesday, accused Republicans of caring “little about the truth” and trying to “hold someone in contempt, who has offered to publicly answer all their proper questions.”
“Hunter Biden was and is a private citizen,” Lowell said. “Despite this, Republicans have sought to use him as a surrogate to attack his father.”
A White House spokesperson has said that President Biden “was never in business with his son.” In 2019, as a presidential candidate, Biden said, “I have never spoken to my son about his overseas business dealings.”
(NEW YORK) — New Age Industries is recalling millions of furniture tip kits or tip restraints that were sold alongside clothing storage units in furniture stores across the U.S. and online.
New Age and Alliance4Safety, a coalition of furniture manufacturers, retailers and delivery servicers, said the plastic zip tie in the kits “can become brittle or break,” potentially causing clothing storage units anchored to a wall to detach and tip over.
Furniture tip-overs are hazardous and can lead to entrapment, serious injuries or in some cases, death, particularly in children.
The recalled tip kits, which consist of a plastic zip tie, two brackets and two screws, were labeled with a stamp or sticker with a manufacture date of November 2019 or later and were included in furniture that was made in Vietnam. The kit packaging also featured black lettering, furniture anchoring directions, and was labeled “Manufactured by New Age Industries” near the bottom.
According to the Consumer Product Safety Commission, 31 furniture companies are participating in the recall, including name brands like Ashley Furniture Industries, LLC, and Drew and Jonathan by Hooker Furnishings, one of the brands from HGTV stars Drew and Jonathan Scott of “Property Brothers.”
Ashley Furniture and Hooker Furnishings did not immediately respond to ABC News’ requests for comment.
According to the CPSC, there have been two reports of broken New Age tip kits received by furniture companies, but no injuries have been reported so far.
Consumers are encouraged to check if they have a recalled tip kit on the Alliance4Safety New Age recall website.
Anyone with a recalled kit can request a free replacement tip kit through the website, by toll-free phone at 855-416-7370 or email at info@alliance4safety.org.
Each year, about 8,900 pediatric emergency room injuries and 6,900 adult ER injuries are associated with a tip-over incident, according to a 2023 CPSC report. To prevent tip-overs, furniture like dressers and TV stands should be anchored to a wall. The CPSC offers instructions and more information on its AchorIt.gov website.
(NEW YORK) — The Federal Aviation Administration said it is conducting an investigation of Boeing after a defective door plug fell out of an Alaska Airlines plane last week, forcing an emergency landing.
“This incident should have never happened and it cannot happen again,” the FAA said in a statement, noting it has formally notified Boeing of the probe.
The door plug for the fuselage of a Boeing 737 Max 9 fell off a few minutes after Alaska Airlines Flight 1282 took off from Portland International Airport on Friday, depressurizing the cabin and exposing passengers to open air thousands of feet above ground. Passengers captured footage showing a hole where the door plug came loose.
Boeing said in a statement, “We will cooperate fully and transparently with the FAA and the NTSB on their investigations.”
The FAA said its investigation will “determine if Boeing failed to ensure completed products conformed to its approved design and were in a condition for safe operation in compliance with FAA regulations.”
The Boeing probe is a result of the door plug incident and “additional discrepancies,” the FAA said.
“Boeing’s manufacturing practices need to comply with the high safety standards they’re legally accountable to meet,” the agency said.
Every Boeing 737 Max 9 with a plug door will remain grounded until the administration determines that each can safely return to operation, the FAA said Tuesday. The pause affects about 171 planes worldwide.
“The safety of the flying public, not speed, will determine the timeline for returning the Boeing 737-9 Max to service,” the FAA said Thursday.
The Alaska Airlines emergency incident is being investigated by the National Transportation Safety Board.
Boeing CEO Dave Calhoun told employees on Tuesday that the company is “going to approach” the midair emergency by starting with an acknowledgment of “our mistake.”
“We’re going to approach it with 100% and complete transparency every step of the way,” Calhoun said during a meeting with employees at the 737 production facility in Renton, Washington. “We are going to work with the NTSB who is investigating the accident itself to find out what the cause is.”
The focus of the NTSB investigation is on the single aircraft, but could be broadened as more is learned, board Chief Jennifer Homendy said.
“However, at some point, we may need to go broader. But right now we have to figure out how this occurred with this aircraft,” Homendy said Tuesday on ABC News’ “Good Morning America.”
The fittings at the top of the door plug fractured, Homendy said. The NTSB examination has shown that those fittings were fractured, allowing the plug door to move upward and outward, she said.
“We don’t know if the bolts were loose. We don’t know if bolts were in there fractured or possibly the bolts weren’t there at all,” she said. “We have to determine that back in our laboratory.”
On Monday, United Airlines said it had found loose bolts on its 737 Max 9 fleet during inspections ordered after Friday’s incident involving an Alaska Airlines flight.
ABC News’ Kevin Shalvey contributed to this report.
(NEW YORK) — For the past two months, Michael Strahan’s 19-year-old daughter Isabella has faced a private health battle, fighting medulloblastoma, a type of brain tumor.
Isabella Strahan was a freshman at the University of Southern California when an MRI scan in October led to her diagnosis of medulloblastoma, a cancerous and fast-growing brain tumor that develops in the cerebellum, the back of the brain where movement and coordination are controlled, according to the Preston Robert Tisch Brain Tumor Center at Duke University, where she is being treated.
In an interview that aired Thursday on “Good Morning America,” Michael and Isabella Strahan spoke to Robin Roberts about their decision to share Isabella’s health issue publicly, describing it as a decision they hope will help others.
“This is something that is so personal that I didn’t know if it would be something that she would want to share,” Michael Strahan told Roberts. “But her idea was, ‘I want to share it and I want to help other people,’ and that goes into the spirit of who she’s always been.”
Isabella Strahan, a model who recently launched a campaign with Sephora, told Roberts that she doesn’t want to “hide” her cancer journey. Having undergone brain surgery in late October, followed by rehabilitation and six weeks of radiation treatment, she will soon begin a chemotherapy regimen led by doctors at Duke University, where her twin sister Sophia is a freshman.
“With my platform, I hope to just kind of be a voice and be a person who people who maybe are going through something similar, going through chemotherapy or radiation, can look at and just hear and just watch, or find something interesting about their day,” she said. “I’m just excited for that.”
This week, as she prepares to begin chemotherapy, she is also launching a YouTube series to document her journey, in partnership with Duke Children’s Hospital & Health Center.
In addition to being a source of hope for others, Isabella Strahan’s decision to share her journey may also turn a spotlight on the need for more funding to develop better treatment options for brain tumors, particularly when it comes to children, according to the doctor overseeing her care, Dr. David Ashley, a neuro-oncologist and director of Duke University’s Preston Robert Tisch Brain Tumor Center.
“It’s an important moment in history because we now have the tools to make the difference,” Ashley told “GMA.” “We know how these brain tumors work. We know the molecular biology. We have new therapies that we could put towards them, targeted therapies, immunotherapies, we just need the resources to put those things into action.”
Here are five questions answered about medulloblastoma:
1. Who is affected by medulloblastoma?
Medulloblastoma primarily affects young kids between the ages of 5 and 9, but can be diagnosed in people of all ages, according to Ashley.
He said that while there are some genetic conditions that can predispose a person to medulloblastoma, for others, including Isabella Strahan, who does not carry any of those genetic conditions, getting medulloblastoma is almost like a “lightning strike.”
Ashley said that with medulloblastoma, a tumor might emerge from precursor cells that are present from the time a person is in utero.
“We know that these tumors arise from seed cells in the brain, particularly in the back of the brain, so-called stem cells,” Ashley said. “It’s likely that the first events of these sorts of tumors happen either around or before the time of birth. At that point, it’s not a cancer, it’s probably a precancerous cell, and it sits there and, in a sense, gestates through someone’s life until another genetic or other event occurs within that cell that makes it grow into a tumor.”
Medulloblastoma is the “most common malignant brain tumor of childhood,” accounting for around 20% of all childhood brain tumors, according to estimates published in the Journal of Clinical Neuroscience. Approximately 500 new cases of medulloblastoma are diagnosed in children each year in the United States.
2. What are symptoms of medulloblastoma to watch for?
Because medulloblastoma is located in the back of the brain, in the area that controls coordination, symptoms of the tumor can include clumsiness or difficulty walking, fatigue, changes in vision and hearing and changes in basic skills, like handwriting.
Ashley said that headaches are also a symptom of medulloblastoma, particularly if the headaches are persistent (i.e. lasting more than a few days); are associated with vomiting or a change in behavior, like difficulty walking; or represent a change, like a new or different patterns of headaches.
A strong, unbearable headache that appears suddenly can also be a symptom that should prompt medical attention, according to Ashley.
Because this cancer is rare and the tumors are fast-growing, Ashley says doctors do not recommended that everyday people get MRIs or other imaging as a preventative measure. Instead, people should seek medical care promptly if they experience new headaches or other neurological symptoms.
3. How is medulloblastoma treated?
The typical course of treatment for medulloblastoma is surgery to remove the tumor, followed by radiation and chemotherapy.
Each patient’s exact treatment plan for medulloblastoma though depends on several factors, including the location and type of tumor and whether or not the tumor has spread.
Medulloblastoma is divided into four molecular groups — SHH medulloblastoma, WNT medulloblastoma, Group 3 medulloblastoma and Group 4 medulloblastoma — that doctors use to help determine the right type of treatment, according to the National Cancer Institute.
4. What is the prognosis for people with medulloblastoma?
Just as with treatment, a person’s prognosis for surviving medulloblastoma depends on several factors, including the molecular group, as well as the patient’s age and whether the tumor has spread.
More than 70% of people survive five years past their diagnosis and beyond, according to the National Cancer Institute.
Children under the age of 3 diagnosed with medulloblastoma may have lower survival rates because the treatment options for that age group are limited, according to Ashley.
“Brain tumors are the most common cause of cancer-related deaths in childhood, and they cause enormous emotional and financial strain on families,” Ashley said. “We’ve got to do better at the treatments, which are inadequate. We do cure a lot of kids with brain tumors, but at the moment, many of those children are going to need radiation and chemotherapy, and that’s not right. We shouldn’t be doing that.”
5. What can be done to improve brain tumor research and treatment?
Ashley said he would like to see more funding directed to brain tumor research, given the number of people diagnosed each year with malignant, or cancerous, brain tumors — between 20,000 and 30,000 in the United States alone.
“I think this is a medical emergency,” Ashley said. “And there should be a large amount of funding towards research that helps people and ultimately can prevent brain tumors, or at least impact them more meaningfully.”
According to the Children’s Cancer Research Foundation, a nonprofit organization focused on pediatric cancer research, childhood cancer research funding is less than 10% of the federal government funds available for research into adult cancers.
