But her illness may help save thousands of lives.
It was one of several factors that led her family to donate $15 million to a new $144 million proton therapy center at the University of Pennsylvania.
University officials and Brian, Aileen, and Suzanne and Ralph Roberts, Brian's mother and father, plan to announce their gift today.
Proton therapy uses a beam of tiny particles to target tumors so precisely that little damage occurs to surrounding tissue.
Center organizers say proton therapy is revolutionizing treatment of tumors close to vital organs. It also is expected to improve treatment of tumors in children, for whom current therapies are often dangerous.
"We're always trying to find ways to increase the dose to the tumor and decrease the dose to the normal tissues," said Stephen Hahn, professor and chairman at the University of Pennsylvania Health System's department of radiation oncology.
The Penn center would be one of only six in the nation.
The online magazine Slate maintains a yearly list of the 60 largest American charitable donations. Last year, gifts listed on the Slate 60 ranged in size from $404 million to several $20 million donations.
The Robertses' gift is not Penn's largest. That distinction goes to the late publishing magnate Walter Annenberg, who donated $120 million to Penn's communications school.
And certainly, the family's gift will not drain their children's college fund. Last year, Brian Roberts' compensation package at Comcast amounted to $15.7 million. In 2004, it was $32.9 million.
Still, that wealth allowed the Roberts family to do what many cancer families would love to do - make a measurable improvement on the quality of cancer treatment.
Brian Roberts and his father, who founded Comcast, began kicking around the idea for a large gift several years ago.
