‘A horrible disease’: Pro wrestler Rebel battling ALS

Professional wrestler Rebel is fighting a losing battle with ALS, but she is using the time she has left to raise awareness and money to fight the disease commonly known as “Lou Gehrig’s disease.”

The All Elite Wrestling star, 47, whose real name is Tanea Brooks, revealed her amyotrophic lateral sclerosis diagnosis in an emotional Instagram post on May 1. At the same time, she posted about her condition on Reddit with the headline, “I am Tanea Brooks. I am Rebel. And now, I AM ALS.”

“I don’t expect the cure for me, but I expect to find it for everyone after me,” Brooks, who began her wrestling career in Louisville, Kentucky, said in a Zoom interview this week from her Florida home with WDRB. “People need to be aware what (a) cruel disease this is.

“My speech and my whole body is becoming paralyzed, but I feel everything.”

According to the Mayo Clinic, ALS destroys nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord, causing muscle weakness, slurred speech and eventual paralysis. There is no cure. It was alternately called Lou Gehrig’s disease after the New York Yankees Hall of Fame first baseman, who died from the disease in June 1941.

According to the Mayo Clinic, ALS destroys nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord, causing muscle weakness, slurred speech and eventual paralysis. There is no cure. It was alternately called Lou Gehrig’s disease after the New York Yankees Hall of Fame first baseman, who died from the disease in June 1941.

It took two years for doctors to determine what was wrong, WDRB reported. Brooks said she was first hospitalized in May 2024 and was initially told she had pneumonia and then cancer before receiving the ALS diagnosis.

Brooks was first diagnosed with primary pulmonary lymphoma, a rare non-Hodgkin lymphoma confined to the lungs, according to the National Institutes of Health.

Some of Brooks’ friends have stepped up to help, WDRB reported. Shiloh Mount, better known as Truth Magnum in AEW, is producing a benefit show on Friday with his Dream Pro Wrestling company at Headliners Music Hall. The event features wrestlers whose careers included early stops in Louisville before they became national figures.

“We wanted to come back and do a show that celebrates her and raises awareness and hopefully do a small part to fund some research for ALS,” Mount told the television station.

Steve Borden, the WWE Hall of Famer known professionally as Sting, joined the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge.

“Isn’t it obvious? I’m trying to get a tan!” Borden said. “Oh … Rebel Heart! Yes, the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge. It’s hot out here, so it’s good timing.”

Brooks said she was grateful for the support.

She is unable to attend the Louisville benefit, but all proceeds will go toward I Am ALS, an organization she serves as an ambassador.

“It is a horrible disease, and there is no cure, but there is hope,” Brooks said in a video she posted to Reddit.

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