It’s been three years since Michael Strahan’s daughter, Isabella, was first diagnosed with brain cancer in 2023. What started with headaches, nausea, and problems with balance developed into an emergency brain surgery. Now, Isabella has returned to USC to continue her studies, and during a recent interview, Strahan’s daughter revealed her day-to-day life after beating cancer and how she’s being cautious about her health.

“I’m doing good. I’m back at school. I feel like, health-wise, I’m not super busy on appointments or anything,” said Isabella on ENEWS. “I actually just had a doctor’s appointment yesterday, but it’s all just follow-up and check-ups just to make sure. Like every three months, I have MRIs, and that gives me peace of mind. Now, for my health, I prioritize being active, working out. I also just prioritize sleep, eating right, drinking a lot of water, and just good stuff like that.

“I’ll take some supplements, whatever, like that, maybe help me feel better, some vitamin C. But for the most part, I just kind of live normally, which has been really great and peace of mind for me. But also now, when I get a headache, when I feel a little nauseous, a little dizzy, I go straight to my computer. I text my nurse practitioner. I’m like, ‘Hi, I just want to be cautious. Can I get a doctor’s appointment?’ And so that’s like the best thing for me.”

Isabella had just started her freshman year at USC when she first noticed symptoms. In early 2024, she recalled waking up late at night in October 2023 and feeling so unwell that she dreaded getting out of bed. She was vomiting blood. Recognizing that something was seriously wrong, she contacted her twin sister, Sophia, who alerted the rest of the family.

Subsequently, after Isabella consulted doctors, an MRI revealed a fast-growing mass near Isabella’s cerebellum. Doctors diagnosed her with medulloblastoma, a malignant brain tumor that is most common in children but can also affect teenagers and young adults.

Isabella underwent emergency brain surgery just a day before her 19th birthday. The operation involved a procedure called a craniotomy, in which surgeons open part of the skull to access the brain and remove the tumor. The surgery reportedly lasted approximately five hours.

Following the surgery, Isabella Strahan and her family consulted specialists to determine whether she should receive further treatment. She later underwent six weeks of radiation therapy. In her January 2024 interview, Isabella said she had just finished radiation therapy and had rung the hospital bell to mark the milestone.

“It was great. It was very exciting because it’s been a long 30 sessions. Six weeks,” she said.

Initially, doctors had planned six rounds of chemotherapy, which would have extended treatment into the summer. However, Isabella later announced that her doctors had reduced the plan to four rounds, allowing her to finish earlier than expected. As she battled cancer, Isabella documented her journey, where she revealed a second surgery to reassess the area in her skull where she had her previous surgery.

“I’m going to have another craniotomy, which is the cutting open [of] my scar from my first surgery, my first craniotomy, and then cleaning it, and then maybe taking my bone out, maybe not, maybe putting a plate in there.”

In June 2024, Isabella completed her fourth and final round of chemotherapy. A couple of months later, she returned to college and started rebuilding her life. Now, however, Isabella Strahan has revealed that whenever she feels something is wrong, she immediately checks it out.

“I think now that I know how important early detection is, if there’s a chance that, not that there is a chance of anything coming back, but if I feel a certain way, I go check it out even before I feel a certain way. If I just feel tired, maybe, like, maybe this is a sign. So just being proactive is always something I’ll advocate for myself and for other people,” she added.

That said, for Isabella, life after cancer now means finding a balance between moving forward and staying alert to changes in her health. While she has returned to college and resumed her routine, the experience has changed how she responds to even minor symptoms.