Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis spent her life as a strong and healthy woman. She was filled with enthusiasm and adventure and knew how to endure life's great challenges with dignity and grace. Only a few months after the death of her baby Patrick in 1963, her husband, President John F. Kennedy was shot and killed in Dallas. Jackie was only 34 years old and was left to raise her children, Caroline and John Jr., alone.
Later she married Greek shipping magnate Aristotle Onassis. In 1973 she was widowed again when Onassis died in a plane crash. After suffering this loss, Mrs. Onassis moved to New York where she worked in publishing, first at Viking Press and then at Doubleday.
In December 1993, she noticed some swelling in her right groin. A doctor diagnosed it as an infection and prescribed antibiotics. Although the swelling went down some, it never disappeared. Over the Christmas holidays, while on a cruise, Mrs. Onassis developed a cough and noticed even more swollen lymph nodes in her neck as well as some pain in her abdomen.
A physician then ordered a CAT scan and biopsy which revealed non-Hodgkin lymphoma. In early January 1994, Mrs. Onassis began aggressive chemotherapy which initially led to a remission. But soon, she was weak and sick again and an MRI showed lymphoma in her brain and spinal cord.
After receiving chemo and radiation directly to her brain, she became very weak and disoriented. Soon doctors discovered the lymphoma had spread to her liver and told her there was nothing more they could do.
Jackie Kennedy Onassis died on May 19, 1994.
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