Former US President Joe Biden, 82, has been diagnosed with prostate cancer to expand to bones, a statement from his office announced on Sunday.
Biden, who left the position in January, received the diagnosis after consulting a doctor last week for urinary symptoms, writes the BBC.
Cancer is a more aggressive form of the disease, characterized by an Gleason score of 9 in 10. This means that its disease is classified as “high degree”, and cancer cells could spread rapidly, according to Cancer Research UK.
Currently, Biden and his family analyze the treatment options. His office added that cancer is hormone sensitive, which means it could probably be managed.
In his Sunday statement, Biden's office stated: “Last week, President Joe Biden was consulted for a prostate node, after presenting increasingly accentuated urinary symptoms.”
On Friday, it was diagnosed with prostate cancer, characterized by a 9 (5 degree) glesson score with bone metastases.
“Although this is a more aggressive form of the disease, cancer seems to be hormone sensitive, which allows effective management.”
After the news of his diagnosis appeared, the former president received support from both sides of the political corridor.
President Donald Trump wrote on his social media platform that he and the first Mrs. Melania Trump “are sad to hear about Joe Biden's recent medical diagnosis.”
“We send the hottest and best wishes to Jill and the family,” he said, referring to the former first Mrs. Jill Biden. “We wish Joe a quick and successful recovery.”
The former vice -president Kamala Harris, who served under Biden, wrote on X that she and her husband, Doug Emhoff, pray for the Biden family.
“Joe is a fighter-and I know he will face this challenge with the same strength, endurance and optimism that have always defined his life,” Harris said.
In an X post, Barack Obama-who was president between 2009 and 2017, having Joe Biden as deputy-said he and his wife, Michelle, “think of the whole Biden family.”
“No one has done more than Joe to find innovative cancer treatments in all its forms and I am sure it will face this challenge with its characteristic decision and grace. We pray for a speedy and complete recovery,” said Obama. In 2016, the former president launched a “Cancer Mooshot” program and announced that Biden will run it.
The news comes almost a year after the former president was forced to withdraw from the 2024 American presidential elections due to concerns about his health and age. He is the oldest person who held this function in US history.
Biden, when the Democratic candidate competing for re-election, was confronted with increasingly fierce critics for his weak performance in a television debate in June against the Republican candidate and the current President Donald Trump. He was replaced as a democratic candidate by his vice -president, Kamala Harris.
Prostate cancer is the second most common type of cancer that affects men, after skin cancer, according to Cleveland clinic. Centers for disease control and prevention (CDC) in the US state that 13 out of 100 men will develop prostate cancer at a given time.
Age is the most common risk factor, says CDC.
Dr. William Dahut, scientific director of the American Cancer Society and a doctor specialized in prostate cancer, told the BBC that, based on the information available to Biden's diagnosis, the cancer is more aggressive.
“In general, if the cancer has spread to the bones, we do not think it is a healing cancer,” said Dr. Dahut.
He mentioned, however, that most patients tend to respond well to the initial treatment, “and people can live with the diagnosis.”
Dr. Dahut said that a person with the diagnosis of the former president will probably be offered hormonal therapies to alleviate the symptoms and slow down the growth of cancer cells.
Biden has retired largely of public attention since leaving the White House and has had few public appearances.
The former president gave a speech in April, at a Chicago conference organized by Advocates, Counselors, and representatives for the Disabled, a support group with disabilities based in the US.
In May, he gave a BBC interview – his first since he left the White House – where he acknowledged that the decision to withdraw from the 2024 race was “difficult”.
Biden has faced questions about his health in recent months.
In an appearance at The View show, which took place in May, Biden denied the statements that he suffered from cognitive decline in his last year at the White House. “There is nothing to support this,” he said.
For many years, the president pleaded for cancer research and relaunched in 2022 the initiative of Cancer Moonshot, in order to mobilize research efforts for the prevention of this disease.
Biden himself lost his eldest son, drinking because of brain cancer in 2015.
