 Ferraro had felt unusually tired at the end of her second senate campaign . In November 1998 , she was diagnosed with multiple myeloma , a form of blood cancer where plasma cells secrete abnormal antibodies known as Bence @-@ Jones proteins , which can cause bones to disintegrate and dump toxic amounts of calcium into the bloodstream . She did not publicly disclose the illness until June 2001 , when she went to Washington to successfully press in Congressional hearings for passage of the <unk> Cancer Research Investment and Education Act . A portion of the Act created the Geraldine Ferraro Cancer Education Program , which directs the U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services to establish an education program for patients of blood cancers and the general public . Ferraro became a frequent speaker on the disease , and an avid supporter and honorary board member of the Multiple <unk> Research Foundation . 
