( CNN ) -- Teresa Heinz Kerry , wife of Secretary of State John Kerry , became ill Sunday and was taken by ambulance to a Massachusetts hospital . Heinz Kerry , 74 , was in Nantucket , where the family has a home . Accompanied by her husband , she was taken to Nantucket Cottage Hospital , said Glen Johnson , the secretary 's spokesman . Once her condition was stabilized , she was transferred to Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston . `` The family is grateful for the outpouring of support it has received and aware of the interest in her condition , but they ask for privacy at this time , '' Johnson said in a statement . Born in Mozambique , Heinz Kerry worked for the Trusteeship Council of the United Nations in the 1960s when she moved to the United States . Her first husband , Sen. John Heinz of Pennsylvania , died in a plane crash in 1991 . Kerry on yacht day of Egyptian coup . Heinz Kerry spoke to CNN 's Larry King in 2010 about her battle with breast cancer . He asked her if she was scared . `` I was n't scared because I 'm very analytical about things like this , '' she said . `` I 'm kind of , I guess , a little fatalistic . '' CNN 's Jamie Crawford contributed to this report .
NEW : Teresa Heinz Kerry , 74 , spoke to CNN about her battle with breast cancer in 2010 . Comment: Her family , through a spokesman , asks for privacy .