Tatiana Schlossberg, the granddaughter of former US president John F Kennedy, revealed that she was diagnosed with an aggressive form of cancer in November. She had been given less than one year to live. On December 30 (Tuesday), the 35-year-old former journalist died.
The family announced her death in a social media post shared by The John F Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum. “Our beautiful Tatiana passed away this morning. She will always be in our hearts,” the post read.
Who was Tatiana Schlossberg? How was her cancer diagnosed?
Tatiana Schlossberg was a Yale graduate and had a Master’s degree from Oxford. She was a climate reporter who worked with The New York Times and published her first book in 2019. She also contributed to The Atlantic, The Washington Post, and Vanity Fair.
Schlossberg was the daughter of designer Edwin Schlossberg and diplomat Caroline Kennedy. Her younger brother, Jack Schlossberg, is running for Congress in New York.
She married urologist George Moran, whom she met as an undergraduate at Yale. They have two children: son Edwin, who is three, and a daughter who is 19 months.
The 35-year-old revealed that she was diagnosed with acute myeloid leukaemia in a heart-wrenching essay, “A Battle with My Blood”, published by The New Yorker on November 22. She said that she learned about the news after giving birth to her second child in May 2024. The doctor under whom she was seeking treatment during her pregnancy noticed an imbalance in her white blood cell count.
“My doctor noticed that my blood count looked strange. A normal white-blood-cell count is around four thousand to eleven thousand cells per microlitre. Mine was a hundred and thirty-one thousand cells per microlitre. It could just be something related to pregnancy and delivery, the doctor said, or it could be leukaemia,” the writer wrote.
Schlossberg then learned that she had acute myeloid leukaemia with a rare mutation known as Inversion 3, a genetic anomaly found in less than two per cent of cases and may have less than a year to live.
She further wrote that the cancer “could not be cured by a standard course of treatment”. Schlossberg also expressed disbelief, saying, “I had swum a mile in the pool the day before, nine months pregnant. I wasn’t sick. I didn’t feel sick. I was actually one of the healthiest people I knew.”
What is acute myeloid leukaemia?
Acute myeloid leukaemia, also known as AML, is a rare cancer of the blood and bone marrow. Leukaemia results from mutations in genes, chromosomal changes, and other factors.
AML is an aggressive form of cancer that is life-threatening. It is more common in people aged 60 and above. However, it can also affect younger adults and children, according to the Cleveland Clinic.
The term “acute” refers to a disease that can worsen rapidly. Mayo Clinic explains, “It’s called myelogenous (my-uh-LOHJ-uh-nus) leukaemia as it affects cells known as myeloid cells.”
Myeloid cells produce red blood cells, white blood cells, and platelets. About 22, 010 people are diagnosed with AML in the US, and the average age of diagnosis is 69, as per the estimates for 2025, reports The Times of India (ToI). AML is not like other cancers, as there are no numbered stages.
There are several subtypes of acute myeloid leukaemia. They all affect blood cell levels; however, they vary in symptoms and respond to treatment differently. AML subtypes include myeloid leukaemia, acute monocytic leukaemia (AML-M5), acute megakaryocytic leukaemia (AMLK), and acute promyelocytic leukaemia (APL).
According to Cleveland Clinic data, AML affects about four in 100,000 adults annually in the US. Around 1,160 children receive an acute myeloid leukaemia diagnosis per year.
What are the symptoms and causes of acute myeloid leukaemia?
According to reports, people with the disease may experience common symptoms such as a cold or the flu that do not resolve. Since AML is an aggressive cancer, it develops further noticeable symptoms like dizziness, constant pain in the bones, back and stomach, frequent nosebleeds and bleeding gums. Other symptoms include feeling very tired and cold, fever, sweating at night, constant infections, headaches, loss of appetite, shortness of breath, weight loss, pale skin, and weakness.
Experts have not identified specific causes of AML. However, they note that it primarily occurs when mutations in genes or chromosomal changes lead to abnormal blood cells. According to the Cleveland Clinic report, changes in DNA and genetic disorders can increase the risk of developing AML, and genetic changes in the biological parents’ sperm or egg may also cause acute myeloid leukaemia.
Healthcare professionals do not yet know the causes of the genetic changes, but they have identified factors that may increase the risk of acute myelogenous leukaemia. As per the Mayo Clinic report, these include:
-People with prior cancer treatment or who have undergone certain types of chemotherapy and radiation therapy
– Smoking, including exposure to second-hand smoke
-Long-term exposure to dangerous chemicals such as benzene and formaldehyde
-People with genetic disorders, including Down syndrome. Individuals with other blood disorders, including myelodysplasia, myelofibrosis, polycythaemia vera or thrombocythemia, are at greater risk of acute myeloid leukaemia
– If the family had a history of blood or bone marrow disorder, then the risk is higher.
How is acute myeloid leukaemia treated?
Schlossberg described the treatments she received, including chemotherapy and a bone marrow transplant, but shared that doctors did not give her a good prognosis, reports the BBC.
According to the TOI report, main treatments may include chemotherapy, targeted therapy like monoclonal antibody therapy, or allogeneic stem cell transplantation. For adults and children, the same treatment options are applied.
There are three main phases of chemotherapy: induction, consolidation, and maintenance, according to the Cleveland Clinic. During AML treatment, the goal is to put the disease into complete remission.
USA Today reports, citing the Cleveland Clinic, that approximately 50-80 per cent of people with acute myeloid leukaemia achieve complete remission. About half of those who achieve complete remission develop recurrent AML when the disease returns. At diagnosis, adults have a 30 per cent chance of survival.
With inputs from agencies
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