Hypothesis In the news Diagnostic Overshadowing Misdiagnosis
ALS or FND? The Troubling Case of Tanea "Rebel" Brooks
09 Jun 2026 Author profile image X stories Social media
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Tanea Brooks, known professionally as Rebel, is an American professional wrestler, wrestling manager, model, actress, dancer, and cosmetologist.

Born on September 8, 1978, in Owasso, Oklahoma, she first gained recognition as a Dallas Cowboys Cheerleader before transitioning into entertainment and sports. She began her wrestling career in 2014 and is best known for her work in Impact Wrestling (TNA) as a Knockout and in All Elite Wrestling (AEW), where she served as Britt Baker’s on-screen assistant and comedic sidekick. With her striking 5'10" presence, energetic personality, and background in dance and modeling, Rebel became a fan-favorite character in AEW while also working behind the scenes as a hairstylist and makeup artist for the women’s division.

Beyond the ring, she has built a career blending performance, beauty, and resilience. In recent years, she has faced a highly publicized battle with serious health challenges.

Summary Timeline of Tanea Brooks (Rebel)’s Medical Journey

The burning question here is: Was ALS initially misdiagnosed as FND? Target ALS – “False Positives and False Negatives: How ALS Can Be Misdiagnosed” Neurosymptoms – “Misdiagnosis & Comorbidity”

Many clinicians will immediately claim comorbidity, proposing that we are dealing with both ALS and FND presenting in the same patient. This often makes it difficult, if not impossible, to invalidate any case of FND, since, given that we are dealing with a purely clinical diagnosis, invalidation would likely push us into a he said, she said situation: was what the clinician saw interpreted incorrectly, or is what was once seen simply no longer present?

The problem does however run much deeper than this, once we understand what FND is and what FND is not.

FND symptoms and FND suffering are real, the clinical signs are real as well. However, all of that is merely describing presentation. The real point of contention is the mechanism behind these symptoms and signs.

Multiple hypotheses exist around the mechanism Mavroudis et al. (2024) – Understanding Functional Neurological Disorder: Recent Insights Hallett et al. (2022) – Functional neurological disorder: new subtypes and shared mechanisms (Lancet Neurology) , so this is by no means settled science. And this very unsettled science is being used in a lot of cases to close diagnostic doors (I hope to get more patients to share their stories on this website). Once FND is diagnosed, many clinicians tend to treat it as a primary diagnosis, especially since it is framed as a positive, non exclusionary rule in diagnosis. PMC – “Misdiagnosis Review” Cleveland Clinic – “Functional Neurological Disorder (Conversion Disorder)”

The DSM 5 itself claims that once FND is found, it is rare to find something else explaining the symptoms.

Even though I find the comorbidity claim problematic and potentially misleading, I do suspect that it is giving us a real clue about what is actually going on here.

Depending on which study you quote, comorbidities in FND range from 40 percent to 100 percent. PMC – “Psychiatric Comorbidities in FND” MedRxiv – “Autoimmune Comorbidities in Functional Neurological Disorder”

FND literature often describes FND symptoms improving and sometimes even subsiding once these comorbidities are treated. Harvard Magazine – “Functional Neurological Disorder Reframed”

J Stone also refers to issues that trigger FND symptoms, ranging from infection and antidepressant withdrawal to neurological diseases like multiple sclerosis and Parkinson’s. This is similar to my claim that FND might be nothing more than a central nervous system (CNS) reflex reaction, that is, illnesses triggering the CNS in a similar manner. Neurosymptoms – “Jon Stone on Misdiagnosis & Comorbidity” Wiley – “Triggers for Functional Neurological Symptoms (Stone)”

What does all of this tell us? It tells us that we are most probably dealing with a common shared phenotype: functional neurological symptoms and presentations will likely occur in a lot of diseases. Does that make it appropriate to use FND as a primary diagnosis though?

I would argue that not only is it inappropriate, but somewhat absurd. To bring the point home, consider common shared phenotypes like fever or delirium. Most infections present with fever, yet no one treats fever as a primary diagnosis. Underlying causes are pursued. Delirium is a complex syndrome with positive features such as fluctuating attention and confusion that can stem from infection, medications, autoimmune disease, or neurodegeneration. Treating it as the final diagnosis while ignoring the root cause would be poor medicine. The same risk exists when functional neurological symptoms are labeled primary FND rather than a downstream CNS phenotype of something more serious.

References
  1. People Magazine – “Wrestler Tanea Brooks Breaks Down Revealing ALS Diagnosis Amid Cancer”
  2. Post Wrestling – “AEW’s Rebel Diagnosed with Pulmonary Lymphoma”
  3. Yahoo Sports – “AEW’s Rebel Details Physical Decline”
  4. Yahoo Sports – “AEW Star Tanea Brooks (AKA Rebel) Reveals ALS Diagnosis”
  5. Target ALS – “False Positives and False Negatives: How ALS Can Be Misdiagnosed”
  6. Neurosymptoms – “Misdiagnosis & Comorbidity”
  7. Mavroudis et al. (2024) – Understanding Functional Neurological Disorder: Recent Insights
  8. Hallett et al. (2022) – Functional neurological disorder: new subtypes and shared mechanisms (Lancet Neurology)
  9. PMC – “Misdiagnosis Review”
  10. Cleveland Clinic – “Functional Neurological Disorder (Conversion Disorder)”
  11. PMC – “Psychiatric Comorbidities in FND”
  12. MedRxiv – “Autoimmune Comorbidities in Functional Neurological Disorder”
  13. Harvard Magazine – “Functional Neurological Disorder Reframed”
  14. Neurosymptoms – “Jon Stone on Misdiagnosis & Comorbidity”
  15. Wiley – “Triggers for Functional Neurological Symptoms (Stone)”