John F. Kennedy’s granddaughter, Tatiana Schlossberg, has revealed that she is living with terminal cancer, sharing that one of her doctors has estimated she may have about a year left to live. She disclosed her diagnosis and reflections in a personal essay for The New Yorker, where she also criticized health policies backed by her cousin, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
Schlossberg, the daughter of Caroline Kennedy and Edwin Schlossberg, wrote that she was diagnosed in May 2024 at age 34. After the birth of her second child, routine bloodwork showed an elevated white blood cell count. Further testing revealed she had acute myeloid leukemia with a rare mutation typically seen in much older patients.
Her essay appeared on the 62nd anniversary of President John F. Kennedy’s assassination.
An environmental journalist, Schlossberg described undergoing multiple rounds of chemotherapy and two stem cell transplants — the first using cells from her sister, and the second from an unrelated donor — as well as participation in clinical trials. During her most recent trial, she recalled her doctor telling her that “he could keep me alive for a year, maybe.”
Schlossberg also expressed concern that policies supported by RFK Jr. could harm patients like her. Caroline Kennedy previously urged senators to oppose his confirmation.
“As I spent more and more of my life under the care of doctors, nurses, and researchers striving to improve the lives of others, I watched as Bobby cut nearly a half billion dollars for research into mRNA vaccines, technology that could be used against certain cancers,” her essay states.
She wrote candidly about her fears that her young daughter and son may grow up with few or no memories of her. She said she feels cheated and deeply sad that she will not be able to continue the “wonderful life” she shared with her husband, George Moran. Although her parents and siblings try to conceal their grief from her, she said she is acutely aware of it every day.
“For my whole life, I have tried to be good, to be a good student and a good sister and a good daughter, and to protect my mother and never make her upset or angry,” she wrote. “Now I have added a new tragedy to her life, to our family’s life, and there’s nothing I can do to stop it.”
