Priestley was put on medication called Tegretol, an anticonvulsant that helped quell the seizures, but left her “feeling like a zombie” during her high school years. Eventually, the medication stopped working around the time Priestley moved to Auckland, New Zealand to pursue a wrestling career. Her seizures got so bad that she once blacked out coming home from work, waking up to find herself in an unfamiliar place, and that she couldn’t eat without flat mates around or sleep with the door closed, in case a seizure occurred.

“It got to the point where I wasn’t even allowed to have a job because if I had a seizure crossing the road, then I could endanger myself,” Priestley said. “I pretty much got house locked. And that’s when my dad…so my dad drove from Wellington to Auckland, which is 10 hours, and he drove there and back to pick me up, drove back the next day. And then, I think they told my neurologist and then, maybe a week later, I had emergency brain surgery.”

Priestley admitted that if she had not had the surgery, the tumor would have eventually killed her. Fortunately, she received a clean bill of health shortly after, and has remained fine every since.

If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit “Rulebreakers with Saraya” and provide a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription