The Stress and Joy of Closing Chapters: What We Can Learn from Aidan Mack

 

PITTSBURGH -- Research shows that final exams are a major source of stress for American college students. Students surveyed at Duquesne University report a wide range of coping mechanisms to manage finals week stress. One student, who requested to remain anonymous, said, “I’m a psychology major so I understand unhealthy coping mechanisms but that doesn’t mean I haven’t used them. Some people use substances, some people overeat… at this point, I’m just looking for inspiration to help me push through and close the chapter on this school year.”

Multiple Dukes referenced needing inspiration or motivation to get through this week, and they need look no farther than fellow student Aidan Mack of Erie.

In 2020, Mack, a DU freshman, was a soccer standout at Mercyhurst Prep. When injured in a preseason scrimmage, Mack went to the Emergency Room. Testing included bloodwork that revealed something he never expected: he had acute lymphoblastic leukemia, a blood cancer.  Thus began a dark chapter in Mack’s life.

“It was horrible,” says Mack. “I lost 40 pounds, I couldn’t eat, and, for a while, I couldn’t even walk. I was in a wheelchair.” In recounting this time, Mack’s pain is palpable and doesn’t seem far from his mind. The then high school student was accustomed to being active and to having the social connection of a team and other friends.”

Mack recalls sadly, “This was during COVID. I couldn’t have anyone around me. My friends couldn’t visit.” Many recall the social adjustments they had to make during the height of the COVID pandemic, but most were able to maintain social connection in small groups. That was not a luxury enjoyed by persons whose immune system is compromised such as persons in cancer treatment. “It was so lonely,” Mack sighs. “I felt completely isolated.”

Mack’s treatment meant weekly trips to Pittsburgh, chemotherapy, hair loss, blood transfusions, and the extreme weakness Mack described. The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society (LLS) reports that common side effects to treatment of this disease include extreme susceptibility to infection, which is why patients must carefully manage exposure to others. Even a common cold could have presented an extreme risk to Mack at that time. Other common patients' experiences, according to LLS, include bone pain related to leukemia in the bone marrow, mouth sores that can impact the ability to eat, hair loss, nausea and vomiting, neuropathy in the hands and feet, and extreme weakness and fatigue. Mack says at times he couldn’t even talk, compounding his feelings of isolation.

A bright spot in Mack’s journey with leukemia was support from the community. His mother is a professor at Mercyhurst University where students held fundraisers for Mack’s care. He says Pittsburgh Children’s Hospital “treated him like family.” As he improved, he was able to help with a fundraiser for the hospital called “Kick for the Cure.”

Mack was still in treatment when he started his freshman year at Duquesne in the fall of 2022. Transitioning from high school to college brought its own set of challenges beyond the transition issues experienced by most first-year students. “I had to live alone,” Mack said, due to the continued caution his health required. Whether he liked it or not, everyone at home already knew his story. “Meeting new people at college was a little hard,” he remembers. “I wasn’t comfortable telling people I had cancer, but I’ve gotten much better about that.” Mack was still in treatment so there were things he couldn’t do, which required some transparency. At the same time, he didn’t want to try to start new friendships by leading with, “Hi, I’m Aidan. I have cancer.”

Many cancer patients report struggling with identity issues. “I am not my freaking cancer,” writer Susan Keller says in an article in Psychology Today. What Keller says so succinctly, many others have described. Mack’s experience demonstrates just how much time and energy is involved with fighting cancer. For a time, it can become a person’s only focus. However, there is still a human being with talents and interests and desires behind the label “cancer patient.” Mack wanted new friends to know him – not just his cancer.

Three Erie area Dukes who have known Mack since high school were interviewed for this story: Gigi Zonna, Maya Morrison, and Max Nicolussi. Zonna feels Mack succeeded in maintaining an identity separate from cancer. “Aidan has inspired me by not letting his diagnosis define him. He never stopped fighting for others and used his own story to raise money and awareness of childhood cancer,” she said.

Mack finished chemotherapy in December 2022 and got to welcome the new year at a ski resort celebrating the news that his cancer is in remission. “It felt like I crossed the finish line,” Mack sighed happily. “I got to cap off that hellish experience.”

Nicolussi says Mack’s perseverance continues to inspire him. Morrison adds, “Aidan has shown me that, no matter how difficult life can get, there is always hope. He took such a dark and difficult time in his life and used it to inspire not just others with cancer but everyone around him.”

As DU students make the final press to manage the stress of finals week and close out the 2022-2023 school year, may they be inspired to finish strong, a lesson Mack’s experience can teach anyone who is facing any kind of challenge. Mack reports having learned his own lessons from the experience. “I think it made me a more compassionate person. I have a better outlook on life,” he says. Mack advises anyone who is struggling with a challenge to be unafraid to ask for help.

Zonna agrees with Mack, who she says is like a brother to her, on the wisdom of asking for help, but adds the importance of a positive attitude. “Regardless of Aidan’s situation. he always had a smile on his face and stayed focused on the positive,” she says with admiration. “He is one of the happiest people in my life.”

Mack looks forward to using the summer to appreciate the close of two chapters: his leukemia treatment and his freshman year in college. He will be spending a week in a lake house this summer with friends, compliments of the Make a Wish Foundation. Mack states joyfully, “I’m excited to travel, to spend time with friends, and, honestly, just to do every day basic things.” Mack says he may have taken the small things for granted before, but now, “I appreciate every little thing.”