TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Tatiana Schlossberg, the granddaughter of former President John F. Kennedy, has passed away at the age of 35. The heartbreaking news was shared by the JFK Library Foundation through social media posts on Tuesday, writing that “she will always be in our hearts.”
Her passing followed a courageous battle with a rare mutation of acute myeloid leukemia, first diagnosed in May 2024 and publicly shared last November in an essay published by The New Yorker, according to People and ABC News.
Reflecting on the moment she received the diagnosis, Tatiana wrote, “I did not — could not — believe that they were talking about me,” describing her shock at learning she would need chemotherapy and a bone-marrow transplant. She added that the news felt especially surreal because she believed she “was actually one of the healthiest people I knew.”
The diagnosis came shortly after she gave birth to her second child with her husband, George Moran. What followed was an especially painful reality for the young mother, as she revealed in her essay: “During the latest clinical trial, my doctor told me that he could keep me alive for a year, maybe.”
She wrote, “My first thought was that my kids, whose faces live permanently on the inside of my eyelids, wouldn’t remember me.”
In the deeply personal essay, Tatiana Schlossberg poignantly reflected on her determination to keep living and to remain present for her son and daughter, admitting that it was “harder than it sounds.”
She also shared her quiet inner struggle with mortality, writing, “I trick myself into thinking I’ll remember this forever, I’ll remember this when I’m dead. Obviously, I won’t. But since I don’t know what death is like and there’s no one to tell me what comes after it, I’ll keep pretending. I will keep trying to remember.”
Tatiana expressed her gratitude near the closing lines of her essay for the unwavering support she received from her family. Her parents, Caroline Kennedy and Edwin Schlossberg, as well as her older sister Rose and younger brother Jack, were all noted to have stood by her throughout months of intensive medical treatment.
Throughout her life, Tatiana Schlossberg, as an environmental journalist, was remembered by relatives for her “valiant, strong, and courageous” traits. Her passion for educating others about the Earth and the importance of protecting it was a defining part of her legacy, as noted by JFK’s niece Maria Shriver, quoted by ABC News.
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