Tanea Brooks Reveals Rebel Aew Terminal ALS Diagnosis
Tanea Brooks, known in rebel aew as Rebel, said Friday that doctors diagnosed her with terminal ALS while she was waiting for lung surgery. The update came after a two-year medical journey that had already taken her off television since 2022.
Brooks said the new diagnosis helps explain why she has trouble walking and talking. She also said all of her functions will soon decline, a far more immediate turn than the lung surgery she had been preparing for.
Two-year medical journey
Brooks said the ordeal began in the spring of 2024, when doctors found masses in her lungs and initially prescribed anti-fungal medication. More than a year later, she said, she received a diagnosis of Primary Pulmonary Lymphoma in November. The shift from a lung-cancer diagnosis to ALS inside the same treatment window leaves her facing a different course of care, and one with no long runway.
“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 and finally, our prayers have been answered. The thing is, sometimes, we don’t want to hear that answer to our prayers,” Brooks said in her latest video statement on Friday.
Tony Khan and AEW
Brooks thanked Tony Khan for helping her over the past few years and said AEW had supported her through the medical process. In practical terms, that means her absence from television since 2022 has stretched beyond an in-ring issue and become a prolonged health story for the company to manage around.
“I want to say thank you to Tony Khan. Thank you to Tony Khan and AEW for supporting me on this medical journey. It has been a blessing that is unheard of. 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,” she said.
What Brooks said next
Brooks said doctors do not know how long she has. That leaves the most immediate focus on comfort and support rather than any return timetable, with her own words pointing to a decline she expects to move quickly. For AEW, the story is no longer about when Rebel comes back; it is about how the company and her audience respond to what she has just said.
