Isabella Strahan Spent 19th Birthday Unconscious Amid Cancer Battle
Originally appeared on E! Online
Isabella Strahan is commemorating a belated milestone.
Michael Strahan's daughter recently spent the day baking cupcakes with friends and family as an overdue celebration of her 19th birthday last year, for which she was unconscious after undergoing emergency surgery for brain cancer.
"We're doing a little birthday celebration because I was not conscious for it," Isabella said with a laugh in a May 28 vlog posted on YouTube. "Happy birthday!"
In throwback footage included in her video, Isabella appeared to be resting in her hospital bed as her twin sister Sophia Strahan was decorated the room with balloons. Meanwhile, Isabella's other friends were seen gathering around the bed.
Isabella underwent a procedure to have a malignant tumor removed from the base of her brain on Oct. 27, a day before her 19th birthday. The operation came just two days after Isabella threw up blood, prompting her to seek medical treatment for severe headaches she was experiencing at the time.
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"It sent a signal about how serious it was," her dad Michael shared of the ordeal in a January interview with ABC News, recalling how doctors recommended that she should have the cancerous mass removed "as soon as possible."
He continued, "There were times when she was in a lot of pain. She was sleeping a lot."
After the surgery, Isabella went through a month of rehab to learn how to walk again. She entered radiation therapy in January, before starting chemotherapy the following month.
Since then, the model has undergone two more brain surgeries, as well as three rounds of chemotherapy treatments.
"Tomorrow's really my last day of chemo," she said in a May 21 vlog. "It's crazy and then it's my last cycle and then I'm done. It's insane."
For more into Isabella's cancer battle, keep reading.
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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