(NewsNation) — Tatiana Schlossberg, the granddaughter of former President John F. Kennedy, announced on Saturday that she is battling terminal cancer.
Schlossberg revealed her diagnosis of acute myeloid leukemia with a rare mutation called Inversion 3 in an essay published in The New Yorker on Saturday. The 35-year-old wrote that she was diagnosed with the aggressive blood cancer shortly after the birth of her daughter in May 2024.
“I did not—could not—believe that they were talking about me,” Schlossberg wrote. “I had swum a mile in the pool the day before, nine months pregnant. I wasn’t sick. I didn’t feel sick.”
Despite undergoing several rounds of chemotherapy, as well as two bone-marrow transplants and even clinical trials, Schlossberg said the cancer progressed.
“During the latest clinical trial, my doctor told me that he could keep me alive for a year, maybe,” she said.
In her essay, Schlossberg reflected upon her concerns about leaving behind her two small children and the state of health care in the U.S. In particular, she expressed concerns with the actions of her cousin, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Secretary of Health and Human Services. Schlossberg took issue with Kennedy’s skepticism about vaccines and the federal government’s push to cut research funding.
“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,” Schlossberg said.
She ended the essay telling readers she is working hard to “live and be with” her children.