Rebel, the 47-year-old AEW personality who had been away from the company for two years, said on May 1 that doctors at the Mayo Clinic diagnosed her with terminal ALS. In a video posted that day, Tanea Brooks said the diagnosis came while she was waiting for lung surgery for masses on her lungs.
Brooks said the illness helps explain why she has struggled to walk and talk, adding that her functions will soon decline. “The doctors have diagnosed me with terminal ALS,” she said. “There is not a lot of research behind ALS, and we don’t know how long I have, but it explains why I have trouble walking and talking, and all my functions will soon decline.”
Rebel’s announcement lands after a long period in which she had already told fans she was dealing with serious health problems. Late last year, she said her absence from AEW was due to health issues and disclosed both a lung cancer diagnosis and a functional neurological disorder that limited her ability to walk, speak and use her right hand. Over the past two years, she said, she had been on a medical journey trying to learn what was wrong.
ALS is a terminal, progressive neurodegenerative disease with no known cure, and Brooks’ account suggests the new diagnosis has overtaken earlier explanations for her condition. She said the diagnosis came while doctors were preparing her for lung surgery, a detail that underscores how closely her latest setback was tied to the wider medical problems she has described since stepping away from AEW.
Brooks also used the video to thank Tony Khan and AEW for supporting her through treatment and testing. “And I wanna say thank you to Tony Khan and AEW for supporting me on this medical journey,” she said. She closed by asking people to keep praying: “Please continue to pray for a peaceful journey and a peaceful passing.” For Rebel, the question is no longer what is wrong. It is how much time the disease leaves her with, and her own answer was plain: she does not know.