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Actress Kelley Mack, best known for her role in “The Walking Dead,” has passed away after a seven-month battle with a rare type of cancer.
She was 33.
“It is with indelible sadness that we are announcing the passing of our dear Kelley. Such a bright, fervent light has transitioned to the beyond, where we all eventually must go,” her sister Kathryn wrote on Mack’s Instagram account.
“Kelley passed peacefully on Saturday evening with her loving mother Kristen and steadfast aunt Karen present. Kelley has already come to many of her loved ones in the form of various butterflies. She will be missed by so many to depths that words cannot express,” the post added.
‘The Walking Dead’ actress Kelley Mack dead at 33 https://t.co/Aq0GlpRrim pic.twitter.com/zy2qdURMw3
— New York Post (@nypost) August 6, 2025
NBC News shared additional info:
Mack, born Kelley Lynne Klebenow, passed away “peacefully” on Saturday evening, surrounded by her mother Kristen and aunt Karen after “battling glioma of the central nervous system,” the family said in a statement.
The star announced in January that she was diagnosed with diffuse midline glioma, an extremely rare type of astrocytoma cancer. Diffuse midline gliomas are central nervous system tumors, meaning they begin in the brain or spinal cord. It’s treated by surgery, radiation therapy, and chemotherapy, according to the National Cancer Institute.
In an Instagram post, Mack explained that late last year she felt “persistent lower back pain and thought I slipped a disc.” Weeks later, she experienced “neuropathic itching in my right quad” followed by “shooting pains in my legs and back,” that forced her to sleep in a recliner for a month because lying down “was too painful.”
What to know about the rare cancer that killed Walking Dead star Kelley Mack at age 33 — which she mistook as a back injury https://t.co/b09ParRLe3 pic.twitter.com/UjDEULYH0G
— New York Post (@nypost) August 6, 2025
More info on gliomas from the New York Post:
It’s a type of tumor that forms in the brain or spinal cord when glial cells — which normally support and protect neurons — begin to grow uncontrollably, according to the Cleveland Clinic.
There are different types of gliomas, classified by the specific kind of glial cell they originate from. Mack had an astrocytoma, a tumor that develops from astrocytes, the star-shaped glial cells in the brain and spinal cord, according to a blog on health platform CaringBridge about her health journey.
Gliomas are often cancerous, but not always. They can be life-threatening, especially when tumors grow near critical brain areas, making treatment more difficult and potentially affecting neurological functions.
Doctors still aren’t sure, but they believe it begins when cells in the brain or spinal cord develop changes in their DNA that make them multiply out of control.
It’s possible to inherit these genetic mutations from your parents, but they can also happen spontaneously at any point in your life.
Symptoms vary widely depending on the tumor’s size and location, according to the Mayo Clinic.
