Understanding Acute Myeloid Leukemia
- Tatiana Schlossberg, environmental journalist and granddaughter of President John F. Kennedy, died at 35 from Acute Myeloid Leukemia after a courageous battle. She openly shared her diagnosis and treatments, including chemotherapy, a bone marrow transplant, and CAR-T therapy.
- Her struggle echoes her grandmother Jackie Kennedy’s legacy, highlighting both family resilience and advances in cancer care. Jackie Kennedy passed away in May 1994 after non-Hodgkin lymphoma spread to her spinal cord, brain, and liver.
- Acute myeloid leukemia, also known as AML, is a cancer that affects bone marrow the spongy tissue inside of your bones. It is a rare cancer overall, but it is the most common type of leukemia in adults. Children rarely get AML.
- AML is diagnosed by extracting samples of liquid bone marrow and a chip of bone from the back of the hip. The samples are then tested to determine if blood cells in the bone marrow are abnormal.
- Stem-cell transplants can be effective in the treatment of blood cancers such as AML. Not all people with AML are candidates for stem-cell transplants. Doctors evaluate each person’s individual risk potential to determine who is a candidate for one.
The JFK Library Foundation announced Schlossberg’s passing at the end of 2025, writing in a statement, “Our beautiful Tatiana passed away this morning.
Read MoreIn the essay, titled, “A Battle With My Blood,” Schlossberg recounted receiving her diagnosis just hours after giving birth to her daughter despite not having felt “sick.” Doctors noticed something was wrong when Schlossberg, who considered herself “one of the healthiest people I knew,” had an abnormal white blood count.
Acute Myeloid Leukemia (AML): Overview
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After spending weeks in Columbia-Presbyterian, chemotherapy, and a bone marrow transplant which put her into remission, she joined a clinical trial of CAR-T-cell therapy, a powerful new immunotherapy. Despite undergoing more chemotherapy and joining the clinical trial, the treatment couldn’t prevent her cancer from returning.
Expert Resources On Lymphoma & Acute Myeloid Leukemia
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- Advancements in Treating Acute Myeloid Leukemia (AML)
- How To Keep Your Acute Myeloid Leukemia From Coming Back: Explaining Consolidation Therapy
“The diagnosis was acute myeloid leukemia, with a rare mutation called Inversion 3. It was mostly seen in older patients. Every doctor I saw asked me if I had spent a lot of time at Ground Zero, given how common blood cancers are among first responders. I was in New York on 9/11, in the sixth grade, but I didn’t visit the site until years later. I am not elderly—I had just turned thirty-four,” she explained in her essay.
“I could not be cured by a standard course of treatment. I would need a few months, at least, of chemotherapy, which would aim to reduce the number of blast cells in my bone marrow. (Blast cells are immature blood cells; a high count can be a sign of leukemia.) Then I would need a bone-marrow transplant, which could cure me. After the transplant, I would probably need more chemotherapy, on a regular basis, to try to prevent the cancer from returning.”
We can’t help but admire Schlossberg—who is survived by her husband, son, daughter, parents Caroline Kennedy and Ed Schlossberg, and siblings Rose and Jack—for her determination to be present with her loved ones during such an arduous time and her ability to open up about her diagnosis with the public.
Schlossberg was a dedicated, compassionate, and resilient journalist who covered science and climate issues for The New York Times and contributed to publications such as The Atlantic, The Washington Post, Vanity Fair, and Bloomberg News.
Her heartbreaking journey reminds of her grandmother, New York native Jackie Kennedy who passed away on May 19, 1994, after non-Hodgkin lymphoma spread to her spinal cord, brain, and liver.
Three decades have passed since the loss of this cultural icon, and medical advances in treating the disease she faced continue to improve patients’ lives today.
The elegant socialite, who was married to John F. Kennedy, the 35th president of the United States, became remembered as a “symbol of strength for a traumatized nation” after his assassination in 1963.
CAR T-Cell Therapy: Hope, Hurdles, and What to Expect
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Since the iconic mother of three, Jackie Kennedy, passed away, a significant progress has been made in understanding, preventing, and treating non-Hodgkin lymphoma. Advances in therapies and screening methods have contributed to saving more lives.
Jackie Kennedy was first diagnosed after doctors noticed a swollen lymph node in her groin in November 1993. The enlarged lymph node was detected following a horseback riding accident during a fox hunt in Middleburg, Virginia.
Initially thought to be an infection, Kennedy’s swollen lymph nodes soon revealed more serious symptoms, including neck swelling and severe abdominal pain. Further testing confirmed she had non-Hodgkin lymphoma, prompting her to began chemotherapy with a hopeful prognosis.
However, in March 1994 the cancer had spread to her spinal cord, brain, and liver, and she passed away on May 19, 1994.
We understand that the Kennedy family’s experiences are widely publicized, but it’s important to remember that countless others endure similar losses quietly.
For anyone navigating grief, it’s important to understand it’s a difficult, truly personal process. Many people find comfort in opening up and sharing their emotions with others.
As people work through grief, therapy can provide valuable support, while support groups help those who feel alone find connection. For many, faith or spiritual practices offer a vital source of comfort and strength during these challenging times.
Grief is the deep emotional response we experience when we lose someone or face a significant life change, such as a serious illness. It is often described through the “five stages of grief,” including denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance. These stages provide a framework to help recognize and understand our emotions, though they can appear in any order.
As you navigate these feelings, it’s important to remember that your emotions are valid, even if temporary. Approaching them with compassion, patience, and self-kindness can ultimately lead to a renewed sense of strength and purpose.
“Grief comes in waves,” Dr. Scott Irwin, a psychiatrist and Director of Supportive Care Services at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, previously told SurvivorNet.
Dealing With Grief Related to Health Problems
“They’re grieving the change in their life; the future they had imagined is now different.”
Some days may feel especially difficult, but Dr. Irwin notes that talk therapy can provide valuable support. Reaching out to a doctor, therapist, or local support group can help you get the guidance and care you need.
Understanding Acute Myeloid Leukemia
Acute myeloid leukemia, also known as AML, is a cancer that affects bone marrow the spongy tissue inside of your bones. It is a rare cancer overall, but it is the most common type of leukemia in adults. Children rarely get AML.
“To understand acute myeloid leukemia, you have to understand how the bone marrow works,” Dr. Mikkael Sekeres, former director of the Leukemia Program at Cleveland Clinic Cancer Center and current chief of the Division of Hematology at University of Miami Health System, previously told SurvivorNet.
“The bone marrow is the factory that makes all of the cells that wind up in our blood stream.”
What is Acute Myeloid Leukemia (AML)?
This so-called factory makes red blood cells that bring oxygen to our tissues, white blood cells that make up the immune system, as well as platelets, which help stop bleeding, Dr. Sekeres explained.
All of these cells perform essential functions in the body, and a spike or decline in any of them can lead to some serious health issues.
“When a person has cancer of the bone marrow, such as acute myeloid leukemia or myelodysplastic syndromes, that factory gets broken. These are cancers,” he said. “Cancers grow, and they grow in an uncontrollable way.”
Dr. Sekeres pointed out that the way blood cancer grows is different from the way other, solid-tumor cancers grow. With breast cancer, for example, someone may develop a lump or a tumor that grows overtime. With AML, as cancer grows in a confined space (the bone marrow), the normal cells in this space that would be making the red blood cells, white blood cells and platelets, begin dying off. This leads to the bone marrow being filled with cancer cells.
How to Recognize Symptoms of Acute Myeloid Leukemia
Treating Acute Myeloid Leukemia (AML)
Acute myeloid leukemia is a fast-growing blood cancer that begins in the bone marrow, the factory that makes white and red blood cells and platelets. Within the bone marrow are stem cells that eventually develop into white blood cells (WBCs), red blood cells (RBCs), and platelets, which help blood clot.
Stem cells can copy themselves to make progenitor cells or precursor cells. Myeloid progenitor cells turn into red blood cells, granulocytes (a type of white blood cell), and platelets. AML affects the myeloid progenitor cells during a stage of development when they are called myeloblasts.
With AML, myeloblasts fail to turn into fully developed blood cells, leaving them to build up in the bone marrow and blood.
AML is diagnosed by extracting samples of liquid bone marrow and a chip of bone from the back of the hip. The samples are then tested to determine if blood cells in the bone marrow are abnormal.
WATCH: An AML Diagnosis What are the Next Steps?
Dr. Gail Roboz, an AML expert and medical oncologist at Weill Cornell Medicine, explained to SurvivorNet in an earlier interview, “The majority of patients have this sporadically out of the clear blue sky.”
Symptoms for acute myeloid leukemia can include:
- Flu-like symptoms
- Fatigue
- Fever
- Loss of appetite
AML causes certain symptoms, but having these symptoms doesn’t necessarily mean you have AML. Your doctor will do diagnostic tests to confirm whether or not you have AML before recommending a treatment.
Your doctor will then perform tests to diagnose you, and those tests include:
- Blood tests. In people with AML, white blood cell counts may be high, and red blood cell and platelet counts may be low. These tests can also show immature cells in the blood that should only be found in the bone marrow.
- Bone marrow biopsy. Removing and testing a bone marrow sample helps confirm AML after an abnormal blood test result.
- Lumbar puncture. This test uses a sample of spinal fluid to diagnose AML.
- Molecular and genetic testing. Your doctor can do tests to determine whether you have certain genes related to AML and if your cancer might respond to specialized treatments.
WATCH: Treatment decisions for AML
For people deemed healthy enough, induction therapy is the standard treatment for AML. The process involves a seven-day chemotherapy regimen, followed by several weeks of recovery. The goal of this high dose of chemo is to induce remission.
A stem cell transplant is another option for treating AML. After a high dose of chemotherapy, a stem cell transplant gives the patient healthy cells to replace the ones that chemotherapy may have killed.
After chemo and a transplant, the recovery process can be difficult because the immune system will be compromised. Finding a genetic match in a donor may also be difficult.
Why a Stem-Cell Transplant?
A stem-cell transplant doesn’t directly fight cancer cells, rather it helps your body create healthy cells after chemotherapy and other treatments have destroyed them.
The first course of treatment for AML patients is generally a combination of two chemotherapy drugs, known as “induction chemotherapy.” Its goal is to kill cancer cells, but along with killing cancer cells, chemotherapy also kills the body’s healthy cells and platelets. A stem-cell transplant is designed to help rebuild those blood cells and platelets and restore the immune system. The healthy new cells may also help prohibit recurrence of the disease.
“We don’t believe that chemotherapy, for the majority of leukemias, is sufficient in order to cure patients of their disease, forever,” Dr. Caitlin Costello, hematologist-oncologist at UC San Diego Health, told SurvivorNet in an earlier interview.
“And so a transplant is an opportunity to do that cure patients with leukemia.”
Dr. Caitlin Costello breaks down the basics about stem-cell transplants for SurvivorNet
Which AML Patients are Candidates for Stem-Cell Transplants?
Not all AML patients are candidates for a stem-cell transplant. Some need only chemotherapy, and some high-risk patients may not be able to tolerate a transplant. It all comes down to your medical team determining your risk group.
Dr. Raoul Tibes, director of the Clinical Leukemia Program at NYU Langone Health, told SurvivorNet in an earlier interview that AMLs are grouped according to what are called cytogenetics (loss or changes to the structure of chromosomes) and other molecular markers. Doctors also look for genetic mutations on top of chromosomes, which could be indicators of risk.
Dr. Raoul Tibes discusses how an individual’s AML risk group is determined with SurvivorNet
“Based on all that information, we can group leukemias into the chromosome status, as well as mutations and genes. We take them together and then we have three or four different risk stratification groups,” he says. “That helps us decide which therapy we use.”
Contributing: SurvivorNet Staff
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