Michael Strahan’s Daughter Isabella Has Third Brain Surgery, Delaying Chemotherapy

Michael Strahan‘s 19-year-old daughter shared some discouraging news regarding the nature of her brain tumor. Isabella Strahan, who received positive news recently, has faced yet another hurdle in her battle with medulloblastoma, a tumor that begins in the back part of the brain. 

In Isabella’s latest YouTube vlog post on Friday, where she revealed that she had contracted a fever while recovering from the second round of chemotherapy and that just a month after her second craniotomy, she needed to undergo a third. Isabella previously explained that whenever she gets a fever of 100.4, she has to go to the hospital. In her new video, the University of Southern California student describes getting her chemotherapy port accessed, getting MRI and CT scans, and getting an IV inserted.

“So they did a little procedure. I’ve had this one before. They stuck a needle in three spots and drain fluid and I was completely awake for this. My first completely awake surgery,” she later shared. 

She acknowledged that the pain she was experiencing after the surgery was still difficult for her to bear. “It’s not as bad as the first time but I’m really in pain. They do give me pain medicine…they don’t work that well on me. So I’m in a lot of pain,” she admitted, breaking down in tears. “My head really, really hurts right now. Not gonna lie, I’ve been crying a lot. I’m in a lot of pain. It’s not as bad as last time… my face isn’t as puffy but it literally hurts to do anything.”

Isabella said that she can barely move without experiencing pain because she has two IVs, a PICC line, and her chemotherapy port, which all enable doctors to administer her medication. A week after Isabella was discharged, she returned to the hospital due to “shortness of breath.”

Towards the end of the video, the aspiring model explains that she had her third craniotomy recently, the second one was for draining fluid out of the skull, and that as much as she felt “a lot better,” her next round of chemotherapy would be pushed back a month as a result. 

Isabella was recently informed that her chemotherapy treatments would be reduced from six to four, allowing her to complete them in May rather than July as previously planned. “Yes, I only have to do two rounds of chemo, but it’s still gonna be three months,” Isabella said. “So I wasn’t very happy about that. I was just bawling my eyes out because it’s just so disappointing when you’re like, ‘Yes! I can finish by May!’ And then everything changes because of a stupid head infection. So now I’ll be done a little later than I wanted to, but oh well,” she said. 

As Isabella explained in her vlog shared on Wednesday, finishing her chemotherapy rounds earlier would allow her more time to recover before heading back to USC in the fall. A month into her freshman year at USC in Los Angeles, she first began experiencing symptoms. She was diagnosed with medulloblastoma after testing revealed a fast-growing 4-centimeter tumor in the back of her brain, bigger than a golf ball. 

One day before her 19th birthday, she underwent surgery to remove the mass. Isabella then began a YouTube series documenting her cancer treatment.