Wrestler Tanea Brooks, who fought under the ring name Rebel, revealed this week that she has received a terminal diagnosis of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS).
ALS, which is known colloquially as Lou Gehrig’s disease, is a rare and incurable degenerative condition that impairs the nervous system over time and causes the muscles to increasingly suffer from paralysis.
About half of ALS patients have a life expectancy of three years after the initial onset of symptoms, though some can survive for decades.
Prior to her own diagnosis, Brooks spent years suffering health problems that doctors first attributed to cryptococcal pneumonia and then realized was a rare lung cancer.
In November 2025 she also shared that she had ‘picked up a little disorder called functional neurological disorder’ that had left her reliant on a walker.
This Friday she announced that doctors at the Mayo Clinic had informed her she has ‘terminal ALS,’ adding that she did not know how long she had left to live.
Wrestler Tanea Brooks, who fought under the ring name Rebel, revealed this week that she has received a terminal diagnosis of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS)
She noted in an Instagram video that ‘it’s been a two-year medical journey trying to find out what is wrong, and finally, our prayers have been answered.’
Brooks added: ‘The thing is, sometimes we don’t wanna hear that answer to our prayers. And so, while I was waiting to have lung surgery for the masses on my lungs, the doctors at Mayo found – finally found – what’s going on.’
The pro fighter, who rose to prominence through All Elite Wrestling (AEW), told fans: ‘The doctors have diagnosed me with terminal ALS. 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.’
She found herself fighting back tears as she noted that ‘now we can prepare for the future and what is to come’ and offered her gratitude to AEW and its founder Tony Khan ‘for supporting me on this medical journey. It’s been a blessing that is unheard of, and from the bottom of my heart, thank you.’
Brooks was unable to contain her emotion as she turned her attention to her public, saying: ‘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.’
Last November, she shared that she had been diagnosed the previous year with a rare form of lung cancer called primary pulmonary lymphoma.
‘If there is a best case scenario, then I have it,’ she remarked then in a video update she posted for her fans on X, formerly known as Twitter.
Brooks noted in the same video that she had to begin rehab the following day for a brain condition called functional neurological disorder (FND), which she had ‘picked up’ during her years of protracted health struggles.
In November 2025 she also shared that she had ‘picked up a little disorder called functional neurological disorder’ that had left her reliant on a walker; pictured during her fighting career
FND had ‘taken my ability to walk’ such that she had to use a walker, and had impacted her ‘ability to speak’ as well as the motor function in her right hand.
Her diagnosis with ALS comes less than three months after Eric Dane, known as ‘McSteamy’ on Grey’s Anatomy, died of the same illness.
Dane revealed that he was suffering from ALS in April 2025 and then rapidly declined over the ensuing 10 months before his passing this February.
ALS has been colloquially known in America as Lou Gehrig’s disease ever since it claimed the life of the beloved baseball player in 1941 when he was just 37.
Sandra Bullock’s longtime love Bryan Randall succumbed to ALS in 2023 after a three-year battle, and SpongeBob Squarepants creator Stephen Hillenburg also died of the condition in 2018 just one year after announcing his diagnosis.
Her diagnosis with ALS comes less than three months after Eric Dane, known as ‘McSteamy’ on Grey’s Anatomy, died of the same illness; Dane pictured on the series
Stephen Hawking was another sufferer of ALS, living with the illness for more than half a century before dying at the age of 76 in 2018.
R&B diva Roberta Flack – whose hit singles included Killing Me Softly With His Song – died aged 88 in 2025 after sharing publicly in 2022 that she had developed ALS.
Oscar-winning English actor David Niven was diagnosed with ALS in 1980 and died three years later at 73, while The Right Stuff star Sam Shepard lost his life to complications from the illness in 2017, also aged 73.
Former NFL player Steve Gleason is still living with ALS after making his diagnosis public in 2011, three years on from his retirement from football.
