
“Last 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,” the statement said.
It continued, “While this represents a more aggressive form of the disease, the cancer appears to be hormone-sensitive which allows for effective management.”
Biden, 82, and his family “are reviewing treatment options with his physicians,” the statement said.
“Cancer touches us all,” the former president wrote in a post on X on Monday.
He added that he and his wife, former first lady Jill Biden, “have learned that we are strongest in the broken places. Thank you for lifting us up with love and support.”
The news comes days after a spokesperson for Biden said the former president was recently evaluated for a “small nodule” discovered on his prostate.
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.
In February 2024, Biden underwent a physical at Walter Reed National Military Center overseen by his physician Dr. Kevin O’Connor, who at the time said there were “no new concerns” with the president’s health and he was “fit for duty.”
A new book written by CNN’s Jake Tapper and Axios’ Alex Thompson describes how the president had been showing signs of decline that aides ignored or explained away, even before Biden’s disastrous debate that led to his decision to exit the 2024 election three weeks later.
Tapper and Thompson write that Biden’s aides privately discussed whether they would have to put him in a wheelchair for his second term and that Biden didn’t recognize movie star George Clooney at a June 2024 fundraiser.
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’s “The View,” where he pushed back on suggestions he experienced cognitive decline in his final year in office.
“They are wrong,” Joe Biden said. “There is nothing to sustain that.”
The former first lady added, “The people who wrote those books weren’t in the White House with us, and they didn’t see how hard Joe worked every single day. He’d get up, he’d put in a full day and then at night, I’d be in bed reading my book, and he was still on the phone, reading his briefings, working with staff.”
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’s 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.
“Melania and I are saddened to hear about Joe Biden’s recent medical diagnosis. We extend our warmest and best wishes to Jill and the family, and we wish Joe a fast and successful recovery,” he posted on Truth Social.
Former Vice President Kamala Harris, who took over the Democrats’ campaign after Biden dropped out of the race, also wished the former president a speedy recovery and added that “Joe is a fighter.”
“Doug and I are saddened to learn of President Biden’s prostate cancer diagnosis. We are keeping him, Dr. Biden, and their entire family in our hearts and prayers during this time,” Harris wrote on X. “Joe is a fighter — 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.”
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.
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.
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 “not naïve about the challenges ahead,” he had “never been more optimistic that we can do big things.”
In 2022, then-President Biden reestablished the program, dubbed the “Cancer Moonshot” initiative, committing the nation to working toward reducing the death rate from cancer by at least 50% over the next 25 years.
“We’re mobilizing the whole country’s effort to cut American cancer deaths in half by 20, 25 years and boost support for patients and their families. I’m confident in our capacity to do that. I know we can, but it’s not just personal — it’s about what’s possible,” Biden said last August while touting $150 million in new research awards.
Obama and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton both highlighted Biden’s effort toward ending cancer in their well-wishes.
“I’m thinking of the Bidens as they take on cancer, a disease they’ve done so much to try to spare other families from. Wishing you a speedy, full recovery,” Clinton posted on X.
“Michelle and I are thinking of the entire Biden family,” Obama posted on X. “Nobody 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.”