Reserve on U.S. Team Dies of Rare Disease : Volleyball: Glendale’s Bellomo, 23, was called a rising star by her coaches. She planned to return to the national team in about six weeks.

Judy Bellomo, a reserve on the U.S. women’s volleyball team, was not the kind of person who wanted a fuss.

So, only her Glendale family and a few close friends knew she was to undergo surgery Monday for thyroid cancer, an operation that was expected to be routine.

Friends say Bellomo, 23, was planning to return to the San Diego-based national team in about six weeks. She even practiced on Friday and ran at UCLA on Sunday.

But Bellomo died early Tuesday at San Diego’s Alvarado Hospital Medical Center, four years after Flo Hyman, a star for the U.S. women’s team in the early 1980s, collapsed and died of a rare heart condition while playing in Japan.

Bellomo died of a rare genetic disease that caused her body to shut down after the surgery, said E. Lee Rice, team physician for USA Volleyball. Her body temperature reached almost 108 degrees from complications triggered by the anesthetic, Rice said.

The surgery also revealed that Bellomo had widespread cancer from the thyroid gland, doctors said.

“But she was basically going in for a routine operation,” Rice said. “She was in excellent physical condition, except for the cancer. She was a better candidate than most to make it through an ordeal like this.”

Bellomo, called a rising star by her coaches, had surgery three weeks ago to remove two cysts in her neck. Tests indicated that she had malignant cancer, leading to Monday’s surgery.

But nothing in her medical history, or that of her family, hinted that she had the genetic trait that led to her death, according to Rice, who said the disease occurs in about one in 100,000, and is difficult to combat once triggered.

The suddenness of Bellomo’s death was heightened by the anniversary of Hyman’s tragedy. An autopsy revealed that Hyman--a 6-foot-5 player from Inglewood--died on Jan. 24, 1986, of Marfan’s Syndrome, a congenital disorder of connective tissue, usually found in tall people.

Emotions spilled over when tragedy occurred again Tuesday.

“Judy was a special person,” U.S. women’s Coach Terry Liskevych said in a statement. “I’ve never coached someone with that kind of intensity and desire to play.

“She was a fighter and dealt with the situation of her illness unbelievably well. From the beginning, she felt that she would beat it.”

Said Bellomo’s boyfriend, Tim Harris, formerly a UCLA soccer All-American: “What distinguishes Judy from a lot of other people, what makes this whole experience more of a tragedy is that she wasn’t the type of person who was just going about life. More than anyone I’ve ever known, she experienced life. She was really attacking it. She left no dreams on the table.”

During her last practice Friday, Bellomo was not concerned with the impending surgery--just her performance, friends said. She was highly critical of her play although her team did not lose its scrimmages.

Such desire was characteristic of her career, which began at Glendale High, where she was a good player but not so distinguished that she immediately considered a career in volleyball.

As a junior, she thought about quitting to join the drill team, because she wanted to be a song-leader, said Glendale girls’ volleyball Coach Ninja Jorgesen.

Bellomo, however, continued in volleyball, softball and track and field, and also was a varsity cheerleader in her senior year.

She was not among the country’s top 300 volleyball recruits in 1984, when she decided to attend Nevada Las Vegas. During her two years there, college coaches began taking notice of her powerful hitting.

When Las Vegas dropped its women’s program, Bellomo, a 5-11 middle blocker, transferred to UC Santa Barbara, one of the country’s top 10 programs. She received first-team All-American honors in her senior season.

“She touched my life more than any girl I’ve ever coached in 14 years,” said Kathy Gregory, Santa Barbara’s coach.

Bellomo seemed to develop under Gregory, considered one of the best female beach volleyball players. “She was just an average player on our team in her junior year,” Gregory said. “By her senior year, she was one of the best ever to play at the school.”

Bellomo continued to improve after college, earning rookie-of-the-year honors in 1988 while playing for the Minnesota Monarchs of Major League Volleyball. She met Harris in Minnesota, where he was playing for the Strikers of the Major Indoor Soccer League.

Last summer, Bellomo and partner Lisa Strand were among the top 10 money-winners on the professional beach volleyball tour. She also joined the U.S. team last June.

“She would have been the best beach player ever to play,” Gregory said. “She really had a future on the beach.”

But Bellomo wanted to focus on the Olympics, Gregory said, adding: “They loved her because she raised the whole level of competitiveness down there (in San Diego).”

Harris, who said the couple had planned to marry, said the national team staff and players went to the intensive care unit Tuesday night when alerted of the complications. Although Bellomo was unconscious, Harris said she could feel the support.

“I got to talk to her,” he said. “I told her I needed her to fight, to be strong. I asked her to blink her eyes if she could hear me. She couldn’t, but there was a tear. I know she knows I was with her.”

Bellomo is survived by her parents, Frank and Paula, and older sister, Kelly.

Funeral arrangements have not been completed.