Geraldine Ferraro Has Cancer

(AP)  Former U.S. Rep. Geraldine Ferraro, the Democratic Party nominee for vice president in 1984, is battling blood cancer.

Ferraro was diagnosed with multiple myeloma after a routine physical in December 1998. The blood cancer erodes the bones and leads to death within five years for half of those with the illness.

Ferraro first disclosed the news of her illness Tuesday in a televised interview and an article in The New York Times. She told NBC's "Today" show she doesn't want anyone to feel sorry for her.

"I don't want anybody to treat me any differently," Ferraro said. "I'm still going to go on and do the things that I do."

For two years, Ferraro's disease was classified as "smoldering myeloma," or inactive, according to The Times.

When tests showed the cancer cells were multiplying, Ferraro was prescribed thalidomide, a sedative that was banned years ago after it was linked to birth defects among babies of pregnant women who took it. It has since been found to be effective against cancer, and Ferraro was one of the first patients in her condition to receive the controversial drug.

The thalidomide has put Ferraro's cancer into remission, and so far she has been able to avoid chemotherapy — and stay positive.

"This is a race I may not win, but I've lost other races before, so it's not the end of the world," she said.

Ferraro was picked to run as Walter Mondale's vice presidential candidate in 1984 — the first woman to run as a major party candidate for national office — and ran unsuccessfully in 1992 and 1998 for the Democratic nomination for a U.S. Senate seat from New York.

She plans to testify about her illness at a Senate hearing Thursday, as an example of progress made in battling the disease.

Ferraro said she and her husband, John Zaccaro, are moving from their Queens home to an apartment in Manhattan at the end of the year. She said she won't be able to climb stairs in their 4-story Forest Hills Gardens home when she gets weaker.

"You always anticipate in a marriage that the wife is going to survive the husband," Ferraro said. "I've taught him how to make breakfast now, and he's not bad at making sandwiches ... but I don't expect that that will happen for a while."

There is no cure for multiple myeloma, which accounts for about 1 percent of all cancers, and about 11,000 deaths annually. It suppresses the immune system, leading to anemia, infections, nerve failure and bone fractures.

Ferraro said she will spend the next few years enjoying her family, and would like to increase awareness and raise money for cancer research.



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