Maria Shriver breaks silence following Tatiana Schlossberg's tragic death - The Mirror

Tributes have been made to Tatiana Schlossberg, an environmental journalist and author, who has died at the age of 35, months after she was diagnosed with blood cancer

Journalist Maria Shriver has expressed her grief after her second cousin — Tatiana Schlossberg — died of cancer at 35.

Tatiana, the granddaughter of President John F Kennedy, was diagnosed with acute myeloid leukaemia following routine blood tests after she gave birth to her second child last year. The environmental journalist and author lost her battle with the blood cancer on Tuesday.

The tragedy has left Tatiana's mum, Caroline Kennedy, distraught. Her cousin, journalist Maria, posted on Instagram: "I return to this space today to pay tribute to my sweet, beloved Tatiana, who left this earth today... I return to this space to pay tribute and honour her loving and supportive family, who came together and did everything they possibly could do to help her. I return to this space heartbroken because Tatiana loved life. She loved her life, and she fought like hell to try to save it.

"I cannot make sense of this. I cannot make any sense of it at all. None. Zero... Tatiana was a great journalist, and she used her words to educate others about the earth and how to save it. She created a beautiful life with her extraordinary husband George, and children Eddie and Josie. She fought like a warrior. She was valiant, strong, courageous."

Maria, 70, went on to praise Caroline, mother of three children. The Instagram post added: "What a rock she has been... What a source of love she has been with Ed, Rose, Rory, Jack, George, Eddie, Josie, and all of Tatiana’s cousins and friends and the amazing doctors who tried so hard."

Tatiana, from New York City, worked as a science and climate reporter for The New York Times and wrote for several other publications, including The Atlantic and The Washington Post. Her family announced her death in a social media post from the JFK Library Foundation. It said: "Our beautiful Tatiana passed away this morning. She will always be in our hearts."

Tatiana leaves behind two young children. In one touching message she posted online earlier this year, the reporter said: "My son knows that I am a writer and that I write about our planet. Since I’ve been sick, I remind him a lot, so that he will know that I was not just a sick person."

Writing in an op-editorial piece for The New Yorker, she went on: "I didn’t ever really get to take care of my daughter—I couldn’t change her diaper or give her a bath or feed her, all because of the risk of infection after my transplants.

"I was gone for almost half of her first year of life. I don’t know who, really, she thinks I am, and whether she will feel or remember, when I am gone, that I am her mother."