Actress, 30, beaten, gets brain tumor, hit by car at hospital
There’s a reason she’s been dubbed the “unluckiest woman in the world.”
As if having her jaw fractured after being punched in the face by a homeless person during an unprovoked attack wasn’t bad enough, social media star Alli McLaren’s broken jaw soon led to her being diagnosed with a brain tumor —and then getting run over by a car on her way to radiation therapy.
“I’m that friend that lives that ‘can’t catch a break dramatic lifestyle,’ ” McLaren, 30, a Los Angeles transplant from Australia, said sarcastically in her viral TikTok testimonial.
In the clip, which garnered over 1.6 million views, the content creator and aspiring actress — who shared dating woes with The Post in August 2021, two months before her life took a dark turn — detailed the series of unfortunate and life-threatening events she has endured, beginning with her October 2021 assault.
“He walked across the road and I saw him out of the corner of my eye. He ran straight up to me and punched me,” McLaren told Media Drum. “He punched through my phone, which broke from the impact, and I fell over. It all happened in about two seconds.”
Immediately following the violent ambush, McLaren sought medical attention at an urgent care facility in West Hollywood. There, doctors said she “looked fine” and dismissed her concerns.
Months later, when her teeth began randomly falling out of her mouth during a drive, a dentist confirmed that her jaw had been broken as a result of the home-insecure person’s attack.
However, after attempts to wire her jaw back into place failed, McLaren was forced to wait another two months before getting oral surgery to fix the fracture.
On TikTok, she explained, “I had to get jaw surgery to fix it, and my immune system was super weak, and I ended up getting an infection and pneumonia.”
But during her bout with pneumonia, she fell and hit her head, which triggered a traumatic brain injury that spurred back-to-back seizures.
Just two months after receiving treatment for the seizures, McLaren then began experiencing more seizures, vomiting and also suffered mood changes, unexplained anger and confusion.
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Doctors ultimately discovered a noncancerous giant cell tumor growing in her brain.
They removed most of the mass, but prescribed radiation to eliminate any residual cells. And as McLaren was on her way to radiation treatment at a local hospital in early January 2023, she was run over by a driver who failed to brake at a stop sign.
‘We don’t choose our lives and what happens to us — but we do choose how to take what happens to us and make it into something beautiful.’
Alli McLaren on keeping positive as life throws challenges her way
The accident left McLaren with two broken feet.
And although most stunned spectators online were extremely sympathetic to the unlucky actor’s plight, some praised the homeless person for landing the blow that led to the discovery of her tumor.
One bold commentator crassly wrote: “Okay but the homeless guy kinda saved your life??” The comment amassed over 43,000 likes.
McLaren, however, doesn’t seem to feel especially thankful toward her attacker.
“I don’t agree,” she said. “Although it would be a great story for the homeless man, the only thing he’s done for me is cause me a lot of stress and medical bills.”
“The timing of everything doesn’t work for him to have helped me discover the tumor, as it wasn’t there when I was originally hit,” McLaren continued.
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“Although the cause for this type of tumor is unknown,” she conceded, “a possible explanation I’ve been given is that it may be the result of head trauma, so he may have even caused it.”
And her medical struggles are compounded by the new mental and emotional health issues she has endured since the pummeling.
“I have really struggled to be honest. I’ve had both really bad depression and anxiety,” she admitted. “I also get really uncomfortable walking near people on the street because I don’t trust anyone.”
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The ambush has caused a downward spiral in both her professional life and personal relationships.
“I got demoted from my job because I had to work from home so much and I ended up leaving after that, so financially it’s been a strain,” confessed the survivor.
“I have nowhere near as many friends as I used to,” McLaren went on venting.
“I stopped responding to messages and stopped showing up at places. A lot of the time I’m super tired and just have no energy,” she groaned. “I used to be super social and now I just have a hard time leaving my house.”
McLaren also revealed that she now suffers from severe mood swings that cause her to randomly become enraged.
The changes in her disposition have estranged McLaren from a number of people, leaving her with only “tolerant” friends and family members who aren’t easily offended by her erratic behavior.
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McLaren’s many afflictions notwithstanding, she has remained positive about the future.
“I think I stay strong by knowing it can’t be like this forever and also knowing that one day I’m going to wake up and I won’t be in pain anymore,” she said. “I do believe that everything happens for a reason.”
And she now believes her story will inspire others.
“I am hoping to maybe one day write a book about it and keep using my platform to talk about my chaotic life,” said McLaren, noting that her trials have made her stronger.
“We don’t choose our lives and what happens to us,” she added, “but we do choose how to take what happens to us and make it into something beautiful.”
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