Isabella Strahan Shares Empowering Message Amid Brain Cancer Battle
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Originally appeared on E! Online
Isabella Strahan is proving how strong she really is.
Michael Strahan's daughter gave an update to fans on her outlook amid her battle with brain cancer.
After a TikTok user asked, "Are you still alive?" Isabella replied with an April 21 video of herself dancing to Sexyy Red's "Get It Sexyy." She captioned the response, "crazi comment." Twin sister Sophia Strahan commented under the clip, "better than ever." Isabella couldn't agree more, writing, "Not going anywhere."
Fans also shared well wishes for the 19-year-old in the comment thread, with one writing, "That's right, baby girl!" While another added, "Keep fighting, girl! Never give up. Keep, keep, swimming."
Isabella—who was diagnosed with medulloblastoma in October—has been documenting her treatments on social media, including several rounds of chemotherapy and multiple craniotomies to remove her tumor. Her recent video response came two weeks after she highlighted her difficult recovery process in her series on YouTube.
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"It's not as bad as the first time," Isabella said of her third craniotomy in an April 12 video. "They do give you pain medicine. I know everyone's like, 'Can't they give you pain medicine?' They don't work that well on me."
As she lay in her hospital bed post-operation, Isabella—daughter of Michael and ex-wife Jean Muggli Strahan—couldn't help but break down into tears as she admitted, "I'm in a lot of pain."
"My head really, really, really hurts right now," she explained. "Not going to lie, I've been crying a lot."
But the University of Southern California student has continued to remain positive, even sharing that instead of six rounds of chemotherapy, she would only have to go through four rounds.
"These are happy tears," she revealed in an April 10 video. "It's not even considered crying when it's happy tears."
"I'll be done in May. And I can try and have a summer to feel better," Isabella continued. "I'm so happy 'cause I thought I'd be done at the end of July." She added, "I'm so happy."
Keep reading to see more of Isabella's battle with brain cancer.
Brain Cancer Diagnosis
Isabella Strahan—the daughter of former couple Michael Strahan and Jean Muggli—said she "didn't notice anything was off" about her health until early October 2023, when she started experiencing headaches and nausea.
After throwing up blood one day, she got a full checkup and MRI scan at the urging of her dad. The results showed medulloblastoma, a malignant brain tumor found in children.
Later that month, she underwent brain surgery to remove the mass.
Family Support
Isabella went public with her diagnosis in a January 2024 interview with her dad and ABC News' Robin Roberts.
"I literally think that in a lot of ways, I'm the luckiest man in the world because I've got an amazing daughter," Michael noted at the time. "I know she's going through it, but I know that we're never given more than we can handle and that she is going to crush this."
Isabella's twin sister Sophia Strahan also offered her support. "I'm so lucky to have the most amazing sister and best friend in the world," she wrote on Instagram. "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"
Radiation Therapy
Following her interview, Isabella shared she had finished her round of radiation therapy.
"I'm very excited to finally be done," she said in a Jan. 16 YouTube video. "It's been a long six weeks and I'm very happy to finally heal my head after all of this because the side effects and everything get to you."
First Chemotherapy Round
Following radiation therapy, Isabella began undergoing chemotherapy to treat her cancer.
"My whole mouth feels like I got one giant root canal," she shared in a Feb. 16 vlog. "Every single tooth, just ripped out and not even surgically put back in. My jaw hurts, the bottom of my tongue hurts. It hurts when I gulp water."
Still, the teen kept her spirits up, joking in a video posted a week later that her hair is "insufficient now."
"Besides being bald," she said, "it doesn't bring me pain mentally."
Emergency Skull Surgery
Though Isabella was initially scheduled to undergo her second round of chemotherapy in early March, she underwent emergency surgery on her skull—during which doctors drained out extra fluid from her head and replaced a bone they had originally cut out with a titanium plate—which pushed her chemo back by weeks.
"I'm in so much pain," she said in a March 6 vlog. "My face is extremely puffy, and this sucks. I was in so much pain earlier. I was, like, screaming."
Special Visit
Isabella's dad Michael arranged for her favorite singer Bryson Tiller to stop by their New York City home as a pick-me-up amid her treatments.
"You haven't moved this much in months!" Michael joked to his daughter in her vlog of the visit. "You are fangirling right now."
Chemotherapy Round 2
Isabella shared in a March 21 video that she had started her second round of chemotherapy, meaning there was "just four more" rounds to go.
New Side Effects
Amid her second chemotherapy round, Isabella said she began experiencing difficulties in walking.
"I literally can't walk without being lightheaded or out of breath," she shared in a March 27 vlog, lamenting that there isn't an "anti-exhaustion medicine" she could take.
Good News
The YouTuber had a positive update after finishing her second round of chemotherapy, sharing that she would only have to undergo two more rounds of instead of the originally scheduled four.
"These are happy tears," she said in a video posted April 10. "It's not even considering crying when it's happy tears."
Roadblock in Her Journey
However, Isabella hit a bump in the road in her treatment plan when she had to undergo a third craniotomy. According to the teen, this procedure was unlike anything she had previously experienced.
"Not going to lie, I've been crying a lot," she detailed in an April 12 vlog. "They sunk a needle in three spots and drained fluid, and I was completely awake for this. So, my first completely awake surgery."
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