Former President Joe Biden was diagnosed with an \u201caggressive form\u201d of prostate cancer, according to a statement from his personal office Sunday, and it has spread to his bones. <\/p>\n
\u201cLast week, President Joe Biden was seen for a new finding of a prostate nodule after experiencing increasing urinary symptoms. On Friday, he was diagnosed with prostate cancer, characterized by a Gleason score of 9 (Grade Group 5) with metastasis to the bone,\u201d the statement said. <\/p>\n
It continued, \u201cWhile this represents a more aggressive form of the disease, the cancer appears to be hormone-sensitive which allows for effective management.\u201d <\/p>\n
Biden, 82, and his family \u201care reviewing treatment options with his physicians,\u201d the statement said. <\/p>\n
The news comes days after a spokesperson for Biden said the former president was recently evaluated for a \u201csmall nodule\u201d discovered on his prostate. <\/p>\n
\u201cProstate cancer is very common,\u201d said Dr. Jamin Brahmbhatt, a urologist and robotic surgeon with Orlando Health and an assistant professor at the University of Central Florida\u2019s College of Medicine, who is not involved in Biden\u2019s treatment. \u201cAs we get older, most men are going to have little cancer cells in them.\u201d <\/p>\n
Prostate cancers can be assigned a grade, known as a Gleason score, based on what the cells look like under a microscope. A Gleason score of 9 \u201cmeans it\u2019s the most aggressive form of prostate cancer,\u201d Dr. Benjamin Davies, a professor of urologic oncology at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center who is also not involved in Biden\u2019s case, said in an email. <\/p>\n
Concerns about age and health dogged Biden, the oldest president in US history, throughout his time in office and came into sharper focus following his halting debate performance against Donald Trump last June. <\/p>\n
In February 2024, Biden underwent a physical at Walter Reed National Military Center overseen by his physician Dr. Kevin O\u2019Connor, who at the time said there were \u201cno new concerns\u201d with the president\u2019s health and he was \u201cfit for duty.\u201d <\/p>\n
Tapper and Thompson write that Biden\u2019s aides privately discussed whether they would have to put him in a wheelchair for his second term and that Biden didn\u2019t recognize movie star George Clooney at a June 2024 fundraiser. <\/p>\n
Biden has maintained a relatively low profile since leaving the White House but has slowly started to reemerge on the public stage. He appeared alongside his wife, Jill Biden, earlier this month on ABC\u2019s \u201cThe View,\u201d where he pushed back on suggestions he experienced cognitive decline in his final year in office. <\/p>\n
\u201cThey are wrong,\u201d Joe Biden said. \u201cThere is nothing to sustain that.\u201d <\/p>\n
The former first lady added, \u201cThe people who wrote those books weren\u2019t in the White House with us, and they didn\u2019t see how hard Joe worked every single day. He\u2019d get up, he\u2019d put in a full day and then at night, I\u2019d be in bed reading my book, and he was still on the phone, reading his briefings, working with staff.\u201d <\/p>\n
Trump has continued to criticize Biden, even after the then-president dropped out of the 2024 race, and to claim Biden suffered from cognitive decline. During Trump\u2019s trip to the Middle East last week, he largely ignored the long-held presidential norms of avoiding criticizing domestic political opponents while traveling abroad, personally attacking his predecessor multiple times. But Trump put his feelings aside Sunday as he expressed well-wishes for the former president. <\/p>\n
\u201cMelania and I are saddened to hear about Joe Biden\u2019s recent medical diagnosis. We extend our warmest and best wishes to Jill and the family, and we wish Joe a fast and successful recovery,\u201d he posted on Truth Social. <\/p>\n
Former Vice President Kamala Harris, who took over the Democrats\u2019 campaign after Biden dropped out of the race, also wished the former president a speedy recovery and added that \u201cJoe is a fighter.\u201d <\/p>\n
\u201cDoug and I are saddened to learn of President Biden\u2019s prostate cancer diagnosis. We are keeping him, Dr. Biden, and their entire family in our hearts and prayers during this time,\u201d Harris wrote on X. \u201cJoe is a fighter \u2014 and I know he will face this challenge with the same strength, resilience, and optimism that have always defined his life and leadership. We are hopeful for a full and speedy recovery.\u201d <\/p>\n
Besides the Gleason score, factors such as blood prostate-specific antigen levels, imaging tests and biopsy findings are important in determining how the cancer might behave and what treatment options would be best. <\/p>\n
Even patients with high-risk prostate cancer \u201ccan live a pretty normal life and have a good quality of life, as long as the cancer is treated,\u201d Brahmbhatt said. That treatment is personalized to each patient and might come in several forms, such as hormone therapy, chemotherapy or radiation. <\/p>\n
The fact that Biden\u2019s cancer has spread to the bone \u201cis very serious and not curable,\u201d Davies said. However, \u201cThere is some good news here in the newer hormonal and chemotherapy therapies [that have come] into this space in the past few years which have shown impressive results and extended the longevity of patients significantly.\u201d <\/p>\n
It could take \u201ca few weeks\u201d to see which direction Biden\u2019s treatment goes, Brahmbhatt said. \u201cSome of the treatments can affect memory, mood, quality of life, so you have to be very careful about what you end up doing, because you don\u2019t want to be overly aggressive.\u201d <\/p>\n
Cancer has long been a personal issue for Biden, whose son Beau, an Iraq War veteran and former Delaware attorney general, died of brain cancer in 2015 at age 46. <\/p>\n
In a presidential memorandum in 2016, then-President Barack Obama tapped Biden, his vice president, to lead the White House task force aimed at curing cancer. At the time, Biden pledged that though he was \u201cnot na\u00efve about the challenges ahead,\u201d he had \u201cnever been more optimistic that we can do big things.\u201d <\/p>\n
In 2022, then-President Biden reestablished the program, dubbed the \u201cCancer Moonshot\u201d initiative, committing the nation to working toward reducing the death rate from cancer by at least 50% over the next 25 years. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re mobilizing the whole country effort to cut American cancer deaths in half by 20, 25 years and boost support for patients and their families. I\u2019m confident in our capacity to do that. I know we can, but it\u2019s not just personal \u2014 it\u2019s about what\u2019s possible,\u201d Biden said last August while touting $150 million in new research awards. <\/p>\n
Obama and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton both highlighted Biden\u2019s effort toward ending cancer in their well-wishes. <\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m thinking of the Bidens as they take on cancer, a disease they\u2019ve done so much to try to spare other families from. Wishing you a speedy, full recovery,\u201d Clinton posted on X. <\/p>\n
\u201cMichelle and I are thinking of the entire Biden family,\u201d Obama posted on X. \u201cNobody has done more to find breakthrough treatments for cancer in all its forms than Joe, and I am certain he will fight this challenge with his trademark resolve and grace. We pray for a fast and full recovery.\u201d <\/p>\n
This story has been updated with additional information.<\/em> <\/p>\n<\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Former President Joe Biden was diagnosed with an \u201caggressive form\u201d of prostate cancer, according to…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3180,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3179","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-health-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/healthyretirementnews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3179","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/healthyretirementnews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/healthyretirementnews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/healthyretirementnews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/healthyretirementnews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3179"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/healthyretirementnews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3179\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/healthyretirementnews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3180"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/healthyretirementnews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3179"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/healthyretirementnews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3179"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/healthyretirementnews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3179"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}