CRIPPLED CAROLINE'S BONE-DISEASE AGONY!
Friends fear former first daughter will be paralyzed!
JFK’S beloved daughter, Caroline Kennedy, is locked in a desperate fight with an agonizing incurable disease that’s left her barely able to walk — and friends fearing she’ll be paralyzed for life!
The health horrors have driven the 62-year-old former ambassador to Japan to suddenly quit the Harvard Kennedy School board — and have turned the oncedynamic lawyer into a reclusive invalid!
“She is effectively paralyzed and unable to function,” spills a family insider. “It’s her worst nightmare because she was always a very active person.
“She is losing her will to live.”
Caroline is suffering from a collapsed spinal column that triggers severe leg pain and makes walking a torture, says the source.
“She’s also in agony from rheumatoid arthritis, and she’s depressed. Even walking across the living room hurts so much.”
Caroline has been battling the autoimmune disease — which mercilessly savages knees, fingers, hips and backs — since 1999, according to sources.
She’s bravely soldiered on as the honorary chair of the John F. Kennedy School of Government Institute of Politics advisory committee before abruptly quitting Feb. 19!
“She’s been hiding this from her family for years,” notes the insider.
Dr. Gabe Mirkin, who has not treated Caroline, says the symptoms indicate that the Kennedy standard-bearer has osteoporosis associated with rheumatoid arthritis, a
bones so much they collapse, squeezing the nerves between them and causing horrendous pain that becomes worse with movement.”
Arthritis damages bones and lungs and can lead to paralysis and a painful death, he adds.
The collapsed spinal column means “her spine can break without even having a major accident,” Mirkin continues.
Caroline has consulted with many doctors about an operation, but they’ve grimly warned that it’s risky and she could end up in a wheelchair, insiders say.
Tragically, her mother, former First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, also suffered from rheumatoid arthritis and its crippling agony.
“Caroline can’t believe that she will be in the same situation as her mother,” adds the insider.