Many of us have heard of Geraldine Ferraro, who ran with Walter Mondale in a failed U.S. presidential bid in the 1980s. What you may not know is that Ferraro was diagnosed with multiple myeloma almost a decade ago.Today, she is living a full life and has seen her cancer go into remission after being given not that long to live when her cancer was first discovered. She gives credit to the Velcade drug, which controls the blood cancer she has without the nasty side effects that can come from traditional chemotherapy.
Velcade was not available when Ferraro was first diagnosed, but she swears by it now, saying that her cancer is "a chronic disease instead of a death sentence." The one thing that concerns Ferraro is the cost, since each Velcade injection costs $1,000 -- putting it out of the reach of many Americans (and others).
