Former SI Swimsuit Model Who Had Brain Tumor Has Advice for Isabella Strahan: ‘Don't Let an Illness Stop You’ (Exclusive)

Victoria DeHart Vesce was a model and NBA dancer for the Charlotte Hornets when she started experiencing strange symptoms like hearing loss and bleeding in her right ear.

After months of being told the hearing issues and migraines were the result of an ear infection, doctors sent her for a CAT scan. At just 24 years old, she was diagnosed with multiple paraganglioma, which, according to the Mayo Clinic, are non-cancerous brain and skull-based tumors that form on a specific type of nerve cell.

“My heart dropped down,” she tells PEOPLE in an exclusive interview for May’s Brain Tumor Awareness Month. While the tumors are usually benign, Vesce says hers spread to her carotid artery and were so big they threatened her life.

The influencer, now 31, remembers being told she had to stop dancing the very day of her diagnosis.

She had immediate surgeries to remove the tumors and after six weeks of recovery underwent experimental treatment that required 31 rounds of radiation at Duke University Hospital.

She says a combination of her faith and daily affirmations got her through her inevitable bad days.

Vesce would look at herself in the mirror and say, “My name is Victoria. I’m going to be victorious over this,” she recalls, adding, “That’s all I had. I just kept doing that.”

Within a few months of the radiation process, Vesce began feeling better and got a job as a Monster Energy girl, which she still has today. She went on location on the weekends when she didn’t have treatment appointments.

But when it came time to restart her modeling career in full force, the travel vlogger admits that she was a little bit nervous about being “relevant” again.

“The industry is a little shallow, so you’ve got to be honest with everybody,” Vesce says. She remembers being surprised by some people’s reactions to the prominent scar on her neck.

“A lot of people are like, ‘Hey, we can cover this up,'” she recalls. “I’m like, ‘Why? I don’t want to do that.’ I would notice when I started doing shoots again, people would Photoshop my scar heavily.”

And while she believes that the modeling industry is getting better at accepting different types of bodies, she wishes there was more respect for individual’s histories.

“Wait, why do you want to cover up my scar so bad?” Vesce remembers thinking. “I just went through this whole thing and just got brought back to life again.”

Vesce also shared words of encouragement for Michael Strahan’s daughter Isabella, 19, who is dealing with a brain tumor.

Like Vesce, the teenager had also begun a career in modeling before her diagnosis.

“I think she is doing phenomenal sharing her story and she’s still pursuing what she wants to pursue,” Vesce says. “So at the end of the day, don’t let an illness stop you. For her, anyone, don’t let your illness stop you.”

The PEOPLE Puzzler crossword is here! How quickly can you solve it? Play now!

Vesce says Isabella is “stunning,” and when she’s physically able to model — whether she’s still undergoing treatment or not — brands should consider her.

One of Vesce’s dreams came true in 2022 when she was a rookie in Sports Illustrated‘s annual swimsuit issue.

She recalls feeling like “everything I’ve worked for and hustled [for] since my brain tumor” was coming back into her life.

“That was something that I always cherish,” she adds, of her experience working with the “iconic” brand on the campaign, shot in the Dominican Republic.

Never miss a story — sign up for PEOPLE’s free daily newsletter to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer​​, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories. 

Today Vesce remains deaf in her left ear because of her tumors, but just received a clean bill of health from doctors five years post-diagnosis.

She launched her own swimwear line, DeHart Swim, is based in Florida and looking forward to Miami Swim Week, which the city hosts this year from May 29-June 5.

“The world needs to hear more stories about over-comers,” she says.