Amanda Mack, a 20-year-old volleyball player who most recently signed with the College of the Holy Cross, died on Sept. 16 after a battle with a rare blood disorder that began just two months earlier. Her family did not share details about the circumstances of her death.
Mack's family announced her passing on her Instagram page, according to fox19.com. She had announced in July that she'd been diagnosed with severe aplastic anemia, a diagnosis that upended what had been a promising and well-traveled college volleyball career, according to the Tacoma News Tribune.
Mack underwent two emergency surgeries she described as necessary “to save my life” because of complications from the disorder, and she was admitted to Tampa General on Aug. 11 as doctors prepared for a possible bone-marrow transplant, according to a report from nypost.com. Two bone-marrow biopsies led doctors to that diagnosis rather than leukemia, the outlet's report states.
A Virus, a Rogue Immune System
Mack said doctors believed a recent virus had caused her immune system to attack her own bone marrow, leaving her unable to make the red blood cells she needed to survive, the same account notes. By Aug. 13, she said she had finished her immunosuppressive therapy and expected to begin physical therapy once she went home.
Aplastic anemia is a rare blood disorder in which the body doesn't produce enough blood cells and platelets, according to my.clevelandclinic.org. It typically occurs when the immune system mistakenly damages or destroys blood stem cells in the bone marrow, the same source explains, and the National Institutes of Health estimates it affects roughly two out of every one million people in the United States each year. Treatment for the condition may include immunosuppressants or an allogeneic stem-cell transplant, per the same account.
A Volleyball Journey Across Three Programs
Mack began her college volleyball career at the University of Cincinnati in 2024, per the earlier fox19.com report. She appeared in two matches there before transferring to Eastern Kentucky University, where she played in 29 matches and started 26 the following season, according to the nypost.com account. She left Eastern Kentucky and signed to play for Holy Cross on July 6, fox19.com reported.
The University of Cincinnati's volleyball program said it was heartbroken by Mack's passing, according to the Tacoma News Tribune's reporting on the announcement from her family.
Conflicting Reports on Her Hometown
News outlets have given differing accounts of where Mack was from. fox19.com reported she was born in Maryville, Tennessee, while wkyt.com described her as a Florida native who transferred from Cincinnati to play for Eastern Kentucky as a sophomore. The discrepancy between the two accounts has not been resolved.
Medical researchers note that outcomes from immunosuppressive treatment for aplastic anemia typically become clear within three to six months, according to a review published on pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov, a window meant to help doctors avoid unnecessary delays before a transplant. Another review, published on pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov, examined how doctors differentiate aplastic anemia from other conditions and manage patients through first- and second-line therapies. Mack's family has not shared additional details about her final days.
