“As a parent, you’re scared. Oh my, you’re just scared,” said Michael Strahan about his daughter Isabella’s battle with cancer. Diagnosed with medulloblastoma in Oct 2023, a malignant brain tumor that develops in the cerebellum, Isabella was just an 18-year-old at the time. Just months later, by Aug 2024, she announced not only is she cancer-free but she was back in school after a long leave of absence.

“Back at USC,” she had captioned the boomerang video in red text, standing alongside her mother and Michael Strahan’s ex-wife Jean Muggli. However, the struggles during those nine months when she was away from school were tough. Leading up to the diagnosis, Isabella knew something was wrong—her inability to walk a straight line, vertigo-like symptoms, nausea, and throwing up blood. As per her father’s word of advice, twin sister Sophia Strahan accompanied Isabella to the emergency room. Her initial prognosis wasn’t really good news, and she was immediately admitted for brain surgery to get the tumor removed. “She was actually in danger of having a seizure, having a stroke, and potentially dying,” Dr. Michelle Israel, an internal medicine specialist and one of Isabella Strahan’s doctors, said.

Intense chemotherapy, radiation, and multiple brain surgeries over the course of several months—all that Isabella Strahan had to go through before she was declared cancer-free by her doctors in July 2024. So, when she resumed her classes in August, these were her first reactions: “It feels amazing,” Isabella admitted. “I love getting to be able to go to classes with people my age and I just joined a sorority, so it’s been great to meet so many new people and really feel like I have a college experience again.” But considering her recent confession at Beyond the Battlefront podcast, it looks like Isabella spoke too fast too soon.

On March 1, Isabella joined Noor Hassan to talk about her journey since she’s been cancer-free. Noor, a high school junior and a cancer survivor herself, asked Isabella how her life at USC changed after her diagnosis. Isabella began, “I met a lot of people in the first two months. It wasn’t really deep connections to where, you know, I had my lifelong best friend at that point. I really do have great friends whom I even met for like two weeks. They’d come to the hospital who’d like sit there. You can just tell how genuine people are. But…

“It’s definitely interesting like now being back at school. Seeing all the friend groups that formed when I wasn’t there. But honestly, it’s an adjustment because, of course, I was gone for most of the year. I know a lot of people and a lot of people have met me. But we’re not superclose, and that’s hardest part. Just kind of just kind of disappearing,” shared the 20-year-old. And then there were rumors that had been circulating about her absence initially since only her close friends knew about her cancer diagnosis. Isabella continued,

“I heard the other day that there were rumors that I dropped out of school to pursue modeling. I was like, ‘No, I didn’t!’ So, there’s stuff going around that I dropped out of school… I kind of found that funny that people are making that up. That’s crazy. Yeah, so it’s an interesting dynamic to be back.”

Isabella also shared how having no hair made it obvious to everyone. The rumors could date back to the times before Isabella decided to be vocal about it and started vlogging midway through her battle. She also talked about her honor at ABC News’ primetime special- Life Interrupted: Isabella Strahan’s Fight to Beat Cancer. She’s beyond a cancer survivor; she is a warrior.