AEW star Tanea Brooks has been diagnosed with ALS.
“OK, there’s an update and hold on because there is a plot twist,” Brooks, 47, said in a Friday, May 1, Instagram video. “First, I want to say thank you for all of your prayers because, for those who know, it’s been a two-year medical journey trying to find out what is wrong. Finally, our prayers have been answered.”
She continued, “The thing is, sometimes we don’t want to hear that answer to our prayers. And so, while I was waiting to have lung surgery for the masses on my lung, the doctors at Mayo [Clinic] finally found what’s going on.”
Brooks’ physicians subsequently diagnosed her with “terminal ALS,” a neurodegenerative disorder that causes individuals to gradually lose control of their muscles. (Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis is also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease.)
“There is not a lot of research behind ALS, and we don’t know how long I have,” the pro wrestler explained. “It explains why I have trouble walking and talking [and] all my functions will soon decline. But now, we can prepare for the future and what is to come.”
Brooks, known as Rebel on AEW, joined the organization in 2019.
“I want to say thank you to [AEW founder] Tony Khan and AEW for supporting me on this medical journey,” she added, holding back tears. “It has been a blessing that is unheard of and, from the bottom of my heart, thank you and thank you to all of you for your prayers. Please continue to pray for a peaceful journey and a peaceful passing. I love you.”
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Brooks was previously diagnosed with primary pulmonary lymphoma, a rare type of lung cancer, in 2024.
“After a year of not getting better, I decided to go to the Mayo Clinic … and they found that it was not cryptococcal pneumonia this whole time, and that it is primary pulmonary lymphoma,” she said in an X video shared in November 2025. “[That] is cancer in the lungs. If there is a best case scenario, then I have it.”
Breaking down in tears, she added, “Tomorrow, I start rehab because along this journey, I picked up a little disorder called functional neurological disorder and it has taken my ability to walk. I now walk with a walker, and [it has affected] my ability to speak. I’ve also lost some of the ability [and] function of my right hand.”
