AEW’s Rebel diagnosed with pulmonary lymphoma
AEW’s Rebel has been diagnosed with pulmonary lymphoma.
Real name Tanea Brooks, she has been dealing with health issues since May of 2024. She was originally diagnosed with pneumonia but after a year of not getting better with treatment, she sought treatment from the Mayo Clinic, who diagnosed her with cancer of the lungs.
Rebel announced the news in a social media post on Sunday, saying:
“After a year of not getting better, I decided to go to the Mayo Clinic and see if I could get treated by them and they found that it was not cryptococcal pneumonia this whole time and that it is primary pulmonary lymphoma, which is cancer in the lungs. And if there is a best case scenario then I have it so that’s good.”
She continued:
“Tomorrow I start rehab because along this tumultuous 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 my ability to speak clearly, I don’t know if you can tell, but it sounds like I bit my tongue.”
Rebel also said that she’s lost some function in her right hand as well due to the neurological condition. She mentioned that the therapy she will be undergoing for it runs Monday thru Friday from 8AM to 5PM, or “like a full time job” as Rebel put it.
Treatment for her cancer won’t begin until she finishes treatment for an infection she is currently receiving IV antibiotics for.
Rebel continued:
“And once that’s finished, hopefully in December, I will go in for a third bronchoscopy to determine what kind of treatment are we having, chemo, radiation, immunology and then we’ll start there and then we’ll kick its ass, OK? So I’m hoping that will start around the first of 2026.”
Rebel’s video is available below:
Ian Carey is a writer from Toronto, Ontario, Canada, whose work has been featured in NOW Magazine, The Huffington Post, and more. A lifelong wrestling aficionado born in Calgary, Alberta, Canada, he has covered the industry for a decade and a half. He joined the f4wonline.com team in 2019.