Isabella Strahan Celebrates 20th Birthday With Dad Michael Strahan One Year After Cancer Diagnosis

Isabella Strahan is commemorating another milestone.

The daughter of Michael Strahan and his ex Jean Muggli, rang in her and twin sister Sophia Strahan’s joint 20^th birthdays at Disneyland with their family and friends, a couple days early on Oct. 26.

As seen in Isabella’s TikTok, the USC student—who was diagnosed with cancer in Oct. 2023—and her guests donned Minnie Mouse ears as they traveled to The Happiest Place on Earth in a limo bus. The group, which included dad Michael, danced together as Isabella sang, “It’s my birthday!”

This year’s festivities are particularly poignant considering Isabella didn’t get the chance to celebrate her 19th birthday—which takes place Oct. 28—due to emergency surgery for her brain tumor. Instead, her family and friends had a belated bash back in May, seven months late.

"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 addition to her Disneyland weekend, Isabella also marked the one-year anniversary of her cancer diagnosis on Oct. 26.

“365 days since my life changed tremendously,” she captioned a shot of herself in a cap, gown, and mask, lying in a hospital bed on her Instagram Story. Adding another pic of all the balloons and flowers she received, she added, “Thankful for the progress I’ve made.”  

After multiple surgeries and completing chemotherapy treatments to treat her medulloblastoma—a malignant brain tumor—in June, Isabella returned to her college life at the University of Southern California in August.

She also shared sweet photos with Sophia focusing on their wellness on Oct. 17, showing off her hair growth after previously shaving her head amid chemo.

Sophia also shared pics with her twin during a recent visit, including shots of the sisters in the stands at a USC football game, soaking up some sun together, and working out.

For more on Isabella’s cancer journey, read on.

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.

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"

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."

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." 

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."

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."

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.

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.

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."

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."

Disclaimer: The copyright of this article belongs to the original author. Reposting this article is solely for the purpose of information dissemination and does not constitute any investment advice. If there is any infringement, please contact us immediately. We will make corrections or deletions as necessary. Thank you.