Kara Kennedy, Daughter Of Sen. Ted Kennedy, Has Died At Age 51

http://boston.cbslocal.com ^

[Red Badger]

BOSTON (CBS) – Kara Kennedy, the only daughter of the late Senator Edward Kennedy, has died.

A Kennedy family friend confirmed to WBZ NewsRadio 1030 that the 51-year-old Kennedy passed away after reportedly suffering a heart attack.

In 2009, she accepted the Medal of Freedom on behalf of her father, who was home battling cancer.

Kennedy battled lung cancer in the past, but her cancer had been in remission since 2003.

[spiderfern]

Whatever happened to Joan Kennedy (her mother?) after Uncle Ted was through with her?

[wardaddy]

their incidence of early death is much higher than most today...

Joe Jr in WWII in 20s

JFK..40 or so

RFK about the same

David..20s...too much “boy”...long time doper

another RFK kid....skiing a few years back

some others too I think..

but some of the women live old...grandma was old and Ethel...a Skakel actually is old...Teddy was old considering

why do I know this...I have never liked any of them...I grew up where when JFK died white folks were ambivalent ..to be polite about it

[DJ MacWoW]

She might have been a smoker before her lung cancer. I don’t know. Someone on the thread said that cancer treatment damages the heart. That may have been so in her case.

[MinorityRepublican]

Rockville, MD? That’s where I grew up. So where did the kids go to school?

[Albion Wilde]

As much as I despise this family’s politics they are cursed.

Cursed? Cursed with overconsumption of alcohol, like many other families. Alcohol overconsumption is very bad for overall health.

[raccoonradio]

Wikipedia on Joan Kennedy:
>>Her later years have been shaped by chronic alcoholism, which had appeared during her marriage. It escalated with sporadic, uneven sobriety, repeated drunk-driving arrests, court-ordered rehabilitation, and a return to drinking. This ultimately led to kidney damage, with the possibility of dialysis and protracted complications from increasingly strict legal guardianship.
In 2005, she was hospitalized with a concussion and a broken shoulder after being found lying in a Boston street near her home.

>>In July 2004, her son Edward had been appointed her legal guardian; in 2005 her children were granted temporary guardianship...She was diagnosed with breast cancer and underwent surgery in October 2005.
Apart from a brief relationship shortly after her divorce, she has neither remarried nor pursued another relationship.

[ilovesarah2012]

My uncle (my mom’s last living sibling) is 93. He is as funny and sharp as ever and I love going to visit with him.

[Albion Wilde]

Link Between Alcohol And Cancer Explained: Alcohol Activates Cellular Changes That Make Tumor Cells Spread

[rep-always]

I am so sorry. God bless you and help you deal with the grief.

[DJ MacWoW]

I don’t know. I didn’t do a search on that.

[DJ MacWoW]

Yeah I love talking to my 90 year old Uncle.....when I can catch him at home. :-)

[Graybeard58]

Thanks...she was happily married for 25 years..two teenage kids....prayers for her family..and she was totally out of the public eye..not a hint of a scandal..

Sort of the white sheep of the family.

[Liz]

Kara as a tot w/ brother Teddy, Mom and Dad.

Kara as a bride.

Kara Anne Kennedy Allen (b. 27 February 1960) is the only daughter of Senator Edward M. Kennedy and Virginia Joan Bennett. Born in Bronxville, New York, Allen graduated in 1982 from Tufts University. On September 9, 1990 she married architect and professional sailor Michael Allen. They have two children, daughter Grace born 19 September 1994, and son Max born 20 December 1996. She was a producer for WBZ-TV in Boston, Massachusetts from around her graduation until 1990. Allen currently works for VSA arts (formerly Very Special Arts), a creative offshoot of the Paralympic Games, founded by her aunt Jean Kennedy Smith. Kennedy is a lung cancer survivor.

[Locomotive Breath]

Calling him “professional” implies that someone hires and pays him to do it. An America’s Cup crew member is a “professional sailor”. Very strange.

[DJ MacWoW]

Thanks for the clarification.

[Heart of Georgia]

“Me too. I read that and thought “what?!””

Maybe it’s something they do in Mass. All my imagination could come up with is that he may have some sort of charter type business in Martha’s Vineyard where he takes tourists on sailing excursions, something like that.

[Heart of Georgia]

“daughter of Walter Mondale, Eleanor, also just passed away—same age, 51”

Sorry to hear. I’m working and can’t keep up very well, cancer?

[Mila]

"A woman who was 51 and not overweight? I wonder if she had a congenital defect of some kind. How sad."

Maybe the loss of part of her lung and the subsequent treatment for the lung cancer took a toll on her overall health.

[trisham]

Yes, that and someone else posted that chemo and radiation can damage the heart.

[Mila]

Don’t forget Kathleen, the Kennedy sister who died also died tragically and prematurely.

Kathleen Cavendish, Marchioness of Hartington

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kathleen_Cavendish,_Marchioness_of_Hartington