Posted on 09/17/2011 1:46:29 PM PDT by SeekAndFind
Six years after she was deemed cancer-free, Kara Kennedy accepted the Presidential Medal of Freedom on behalf of her father, just days before Sen. Edward Kennedy died while battling a brain tumor.
However, her own lung cancer treatment -- surgery and grueling chemotherapy and radiation -- left her physically weakened, her brother Patrick Kennedy said. She died Friday at age 51 after her daily workout at a Washington-area health club.
"Her heart gave out," said Patrick Kennedy, a former congressman from Rhode Island.
"She's with dad."
Kennedy was a member of the Sport & Health fitness center, though spokeswoman Nancy Terry declined to release further details about the incident, citing member privacy.
Kara Kennedy was born in 1960 to Edward and Joan Bennett Kennedy, just as her father was on the campaign trail for his brother John F. Kennedy during the presidential primaries.
The late senator wrote of his oldest child in his 2009 memoir, "True Compass," that "I had never seen a more beautiful baby, nor been happier in my life."
Later, she and her brother Edward Kennedy Jr. helped run their father's 1988 U.S. Senate campaign.
Her lung cancer diagnosis came in 2002, and the prognosis was grim. But the family refused to accept that, the senator wrote. She was able to have an operation, and Edward Kennedy accompanied his daughter to chemotherapy treatments.
"Kara responded to my exhortations to have faith in herself," he wrote. "Today, nearly seven years later as I write this, Kara is a healthy, vibrant, active mother of two who is flourishing."
Her children, Grace and Max, are now teenagers.
Her two brothers have dealt with health issues of their own: Edward Kennedy Jr. lost a leg to bone cancer as a child,
(Excerpt) Read more at boston.com ...
As per NY Times:
Kara Kennedy, the daughter of Senator Edward M. Kennedy, died Friday after a workout at a Washington-area health club. She was 51.
The cause was a heart attack, according to the Edward M. Kennedy Institute for the United States Senate in Boston, which announced the death.
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“She’s with dad.”
Let’s hope not.
When is the government going to ban working out?
This is why I don’t exercise...I want to be sick when I die.
She may have come from a messed up family but prayers up anyways.
Agreed.
You stated that in a kind fashion.
That was my exact thought.
greed. Her father’s sons were not her responsibility.
Eleanor Mondale and Charles Percy have passed as well.
I’m glad you think so. There’s always a risk of sounding ‘callous’ or ‘flippant’. But I’m absolutely sincere in that thought.
As a side note though, we don’t know that Ted Kennedy didn’t repent during his final breaths on this earth; for his sake I truly hope he made amends with the Lord.
People really shouldn’t work out when they are sick. This is not the first story I’ve heard of someone going into cardiac arrest because they pushed themselves too hard when their resistance was low.
I don’t think her brother should say that she’s in Hell.
Thousands of families are stricken every day with that tragedy, it's no more a tragedy than any of the others, it's in the news because she's a Kennedy.
One of our church members died yesterday, that's a "tragedy" to me. I have had two brothers and a father and three brothers - in - law and several other relatives die but that's not news nor should it be, beyond loved ones.
She seemed to remain out of the lime light and did not draw attention to herself as other Kennedy cousins have. Sympathy to her husband and children who will miss her..and to the rest of the family, who after all, loved her and will miss her. We should not paint her with the same brush as some of the other Kennedy clansmen have deserved.
Agreed but add to it that this is from the Boston Globe. The Globe has always been leading the cheers for the Kennedys and probably feels the loss more deeply than most.
I will agree wholeheartedly with the others though, may she Rest in Peace and comfort for her family!
I keep asking my wife - how many people do you see having heart attacks watching TV? None.
“She’s with dad”
Uh-oh.
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