Former American president Joe Biden, 82, received a diagnosis of prostate cancer who spread to his bones, a statement from his office announced on Sunday.
Biden, who left office in January, was diagnosed on Friday after seeing a doctor last week for urinary symptoms.
Cancer is a more aggressive form of the disease, characterized by a Gleason score of 9 out of 10. This means that its disease is classified as “high” and that cancer cells could spread quickly, according to cancer Research UK.
Biden and his family would examine the processing options. The office of the former president added that cancer is sensitive to hormones, which means that it can probably be managed.
After the news announced its diagnosis, the former president received support from both sides of the aisle.
President Donald Trump wrote on his social media social platform that he and the first lady Melania Trump “are saddened to hear about the recent medical diagnosis of Joe Biden”.
“We express our warmest and best wishes to Jill and the family,” he said, referring to the former First Lady Jill Biden. “We wish Joe a quick and successful recovery.”
Former vice-president Kamala Harris, who served under Biden, wrote on X that she and her husband Doug Emhoff keep the Biden family in their prayers.
“Joe is a fighter – and I know that he will face this challenge with the same force, the same resilience and the optimism that have always defined his life and his leadership,” said Harris.
In an article on X, Barack Obama – which was president from 2009 to 2017 with Joe Biden as his assistant – said that he and his wife Michelle “thought of the whole Biden family”.
“No one has done anymore to find revolutionary treatment for cancer in all its forms than Joe, and I am sure that he fights this challenge with his resolution and brand grace. We pray for rapid and complete recovery,” said Obama. In 2016, the former president launched a “Cancer Moonshot” program and announced that Biden would direct it.
The news occurs almost a year after the former president was forced to abandon the 2024 American presidential election concerning concerns about his health and age. He is the oldest person to occupy the American history office.
Biden, then the Democratic candidate in the running for the re -election, faced growing criticism of his poor performance in a televised debate in June against the Republican candidate and current president Donald Trump. He was replaced as a democratic candidate by his vice-president Harris.
Prostate cancer is the second most common cancer affecting men, behind skin cancer, according to the Cleveland Clinic. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) American indicate that 13 in 100 men will develop prostate cancer at some point in their lives.
Age is the most common risk factor, says the CDC.
Dr. William Dahut, scientific director of the American Cancer Society and a prostate cancer trained, told BBC that cancer was more aggressive, based on publicly available information on the diagnosis of Biden.
“In general, if cancer has spread to bones, we do not think it is considered to be curable cancer,” said Dr. Dahut.
However, he noted that most patients tend to respond well to the initial treatment “and people can live for many years with the diagnosis”.
Dr. Dahut said that someone with the diagnosis of the former president will probably be offered hormonal therapies to alleviate symptoms and slow down the growth of cancer cells.
Biden had greatly removed public eyes since he had left the White House and he made few public appearances.
The former president delivered an opening speech in April during a Chicago conference held by defenders, advisers and representatives for the disabled, a defense group in the United States for disabled people.
In May, he sat on an interview with the BBC – his first since he left the White House – where he admitted that the decision to resign from the 2024 race was “difficult”.
Biden has faced questions about the state of his health in recent months.
In an appearance in the View program which also took place in May, Biden denied the allegations according to which he had experienced a cognitive decline of his last year at the White House. “There is nothing to support this,” he said.
For many years, the president had pleaded for cancer research. In 2022, he and Mrs. Biden relaunched the Moshot Cancer initiative in order to mobilize research efforts to prevent more than four million deaths against cancer by 2047.
Biden himself lost his eldest son, beautiful, against brain cancer in 2015.
