WWE star Omos reveals past brain tumour diagnosis and unique medical ‘anomaly’

WWE star Omos has revealed that he was once diagnosed with a brain tumour and partial Cushing’s disease in 2012, a combination of which was described as the first of its kind in medical history.

Omos has quickly risen through the ranks in WWE. Standing at 7ft 3in tall, the former college basketball player has used his strength, power and height to destructive effect during his short spell in the company.

He began his main roster career as a character named ‘Giant Ninja’ before being repackaged and forming a tag team alongside AJ Styles in the latter part of 2020.

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Styles and Omos won the Raw Tag Team Championships at WrestleMania 37, defeating The New Day.

They dropped the titles to RK-Bro at SummerSlam, and the pairing broke up earlier this year. Since then, Omos has engaged in a feud with Bobby Lashley, recording his first WWE singles loss to ‘The All Mighty’ at WrestleMania 38. Omos is now aligned with MVP as the Lashley feud continues.

Omos opens up about previous health scare and rare medical diagnosis

Since joining WWE in 2019, Omos has established himself as one of the most dominant heels on either Raw or SmackDown. His in-ring skills have improved over time, and he towers over every star on the roster.

Before his defeat to Lashley at WrestleMania, the Nigerian-American had not lost a singles match.

His imposing nature is partly due to a growth spurt that occurred whilst he was a teenager. Omos was already 6ft 1in at the age of 11 but grew to 6ft 11in by the time he was 15.

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Speaking on the ‘Out of Character‘ podcast with Ryan Satin, however, Omos also revealed that he was also diagnosed with Cushing’s disease – and had a medical journal written about him – after a significant health scare.

He explained (quotes via Wrestling News): “My coach [in college] said to me, ‘I don’t know who this guy is, but it seems like he’s a very high up guy on the campus. I want you to look at his email.’

“So I read it, and he just stated that, ‘Hey, I noticed that one of your guys has a tumor by the side of his face. He has a pituitary tumour and needs to get checked out ASAP.’

Omos reveals how he found out about brain tumour

Omos then explained how he went for an MRI scan, before receiving his results the following week.

“I walked into the coach’s office, and there was the President of the University, and all the doctors from the office were there,” he began.

“They said, ‘So this is an MRI right here of your brain. Do you see that little speck right there? You have a brain tumor. We don’t know whether it’s benign or it’s a cancerous tumor, and we’re going to have to figure out how to deal with this.’

“Literally a month after the MRI, I had the surgery. They had to go through my nose. It was very, very traumatic. But in the process of doing the testing, they found that not only do I have the pituitary tumor, I have partial Cushing’s disease, which is very rare. There’s different forms of large human beings, but it’s a different variation, and I had all of these combinations.

“It was the first time in medical history with someone with all three together. It became this sort of anomaly in the medical world. I had a journal published about my case.”

What is Cushing’s disease?

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Cushing’s disease, or Cushing’s syndrome, is a disorder that occurs when the body makes too much of the hormone cortisol.

According to NIDDK, the syndrome affects around three times as many women and men and is often found in adults between the ages of 30 and 50.

The website also says that pituitary tumours cause eight out of 10 cases of Cushing’s syndrome.

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