Rare Illness called MALS Derails Young Performer’s Life

Tayler Tennant was living her dream life as a singer, actor and dancer for Universal Orlando, working marquee events like Halloween Horror Nights and Mardi Gras. In her spare time, she loved to travel with friends — until she suddenly found herself nauseous, vomiting and in intense pain whenever she tried to eat.

Just 23 years old in 2020 when the problem started, Tennant’s nightmare went on for four years. Doctors were mystified by her condition. Over and over, tests failed to offer any answers. Each would end with the same diagnosis: It’s all in your head.

It wasn’t.

Would You Like a Psych Eval with That?

“I dealt with a lot of doctors who were pretty dismissive about my symptoms,” Tennant recalls. If you’re a woman in distress, “they put it down to your monthlies,” she says, “or to being dramatic.”

Tennant also suffers from kidney disease. “So whenever I went into the hospital, they wanted to dumb it down to, ‘Oh, your kidneys are acting up.’”

At the time she thought, OK, that makes sense; it’s going to be chronic.

But when her pain did not improve even while in the hospital, doctors began to suggest a psychiatric consultation. “It was extremely frustrating,” Tennant says. “They’re not inside my body. They’re not feeling what I’m feeling.”

By February 2024 — and still no idea what was wrong —  Tennant was back in the hospital. “I finally snapped,” she says. “It’s not in my head, and I’m tired of you accusing me of this,” she told the doctors.

That’s when a gastroenterologist suggested her issues could be median arcuate ligament syndrome, or MALS, in which the diaphragm collapses onto the celiac artery, restricting or cutting off blood to the stomach, spleen and liver. Her doctors weren’t equipped to address the extremely rare condition, but they knew someone who was.

‘Just To Be Heard — That’s Huge’

The following day Tennant was transferred to Orlando Health’s Orlando Regional Medical Center for a plexus nerve block, an indicator test for MALS. When she was able to eat without throwing up, doctors knew they were on the right track and sent her to Dr. Joseph Ibrahim, director of surgery at Orlando Health Medical Group Surgery.

Dr. Ibrahim is one of the only doctors in the region who performs the robotic surgery that can correct MALS. Historically, it’s been a “diagnosis of exclusion,” he explains, meaning a diagnosis arrived at when all else has failed. MALS is most common in women, and Dr. Ibrahim wasn’t surprised at Tennant’s experience. On average, it can take more than four years to get to a diagnosis with MALS, although that’s changing with better imaging, more detailed CT scans and ultrasounds.

“It’s definitely very frustrating,” Dr. Ibrahim says. “People start to think, ‘maybe I am making it up?’” Talking with Tennant, he could see that “it really robbed her of her life. She basically was staying at home, back with her parents, away from a job she had loved, a life she had loved. It’s just a very frustrated, lonely feeling.”  

Tennant didn’t know what to expect when she and her parents met with Dr. Ibrahim.

“He’s very calming; as soon as he walked in my stress levels dropped. All of us left that office with all of our questions answered.”

Dr. Ibrahim’s mom — a nurse — always emphasized: Listen to your patients; don’t disregard what they’re saying.

“Just to be heard — that’s huge,” he says. “Giving people your time and attention is a big part of it. I think sometimes they feel some relief that somebody at least listened to their story, as opposed to being dismissed and told nothing’s wrong.”

‘An Incredibly Kind Soul’

Tennant’s surgery was scheduled for April.

“I was bawling my eyes out before the procedure — this was the most serious surgery I had had yet; messing with arteries is kind of scary — and he stayed with us to talk me down. He was amazing,” Tennant says.

Just to be heard — that’s huge. Giving people your time and attention is a big part of it. I think sometimes they feel some relief that somebody at least listened to their story, as opposed to being dismissed and told nothing’s wrong.— Dr. Joseph Ibrahim

What should have been a two- to three-hour surgery took twice as long. Her diaphragm wasn’t merely collapsing on her celiac artery; they were entwined.

“It looked like a tendon that’s almost completely compressing the artery — it almost becomes one with the artery,” Dr. Ibrahim explains. Dissecting that takes some time, but “the robot magnifies things to 10 times what they normally are, allowing us to see everything in much more detail.”

Recovery was slow, about 12 weeks. But by the time Tennant finished her physical therapy, she was lifting more weight in the gym than before she got sick.

“I feel as though I owe him for quite literally saving my life,” she says. “He’s such an incredibly kind soul.”

‘The Greatest Feeling’

Today Tennant is back to living a normal life. She’s moved to the east coast and has a job on the beach at a popular restaurant. She’s back in the gym, and she started training as a voice actor, “which was very fun,” she says.

She’s slowly getting back to performing. “Dancing is hard,” she says, “because of so much physical loss in four years.” But she’s able to do things she couldn’t for so long, traveling more, spending time with family and friends, and going to theme parks. She got to preview Universal’s new park, Epic, which was a thrill. “I haven’t been able to ride rides in four years. It was the greatest feeling.”

Her advice to others? You’re not crazy.

“Sitting around waiting for a diagnosis when you’re constantly in pain, watching your life pass you by, will drive you a little mad. But there’s light at the end of the tunnel. I had lost hope there for a while, but it just takes finding the right doctor to understand your case.”