Tatiana Schlossberg, daughter of Caroline Kennedy, has publicly revealed she has been diagnosed with terminal cancer. The 35-year-old mother of two shared her diagnosis of acute myeloid leukemia in an essay published Saturday, November 22, in The New Yorker. She has been given approximately one year to live.
Schlossberg, an environmental journalist, discovered her condition after giving birth to her second child in May 2024. Her physician initially suspected pregnancy-related issues due to an imbalance in her white blood cell count. Further tests uncovered a rare mutation called "inversion 3."
She was informed that standard treatment would not be effective. This came after initial discussions about enduring months of chemotherapy and receiving a bone marrow transplant.
Schlossberg expressed her disbelief in her essay. "I couldn’t believe they were talking about me. I had swum a mile in the pool the day before, nine months pregnant," she wrote. "I wasn’t sick. I didn’t feel sick. I was, in fact, one of the healthiest people I knew."
She added, "I had a son I loved more than anything and a newborn I was supposed to care for."
Schlossberg and her husband, George Moran, whom she married in 2017, are parents to a 3-year-old son and an 18-month-old daughter. She praised her husband’s unwavering support throughout her illness.
"George did everything for me. He talked to all the doctors and insurance staff I didn’t want to talk to; he slept on the hospital floor," Schlossberg shared. "He would go home to put our children to bed and come back to bring me dinner."
She reflected on their relationship, stating, "He is perfect, and I feel so cheated and so sad not to be able to continue living the wonderful life I had with this kind, funny, handsome genius I managed to find."
Following the birth of her daughter, Schlossberg spent five weeks at Columbia Presbyterian Hospital. She was then transferred to Memorial Sloan Kettering for a bone marrow transplant and also received at-home chemotherapy.
In January, she participated in a clinical trial for CAR-T cell therapy, an immunotherapy for certain blood cancers. However, she was eventually informed of her life expectancy.
Her immediate concern was for her children. "My first thought was that my children, whose faces live permanently inside my eyelids, wouldn’t remember me," she wrote. "I never truly got to care for my daughter; I couldn’t change her diaper, bathe her, or feed her, all due to the risk of infection after my transplants."
Schlossberg’s parents, Caroline Kennedy and Edwin Schlossberg, along with her siblings, Rose, 37, and Jack, 32, have been assisting with childcare.
She acknowledged her family’s strength. "They have held my hand firmly while I suffered, trying not to show their pain and sadness to protect me from it," Schlossberg said. "This has been a great gift, though I feel their pain every day."
Schlossberg also spoke of the immense sorrow she feels for her family, particularly her mother. She has always strived to protect her mother and avoid causing her anger or distress.
"Now I have added a new tragedy to her life, to our family’s life, and there is nothing I can do to stop it," she concluded.