Former U.S. President Joe Biden has been diagnosed with prostate cancer, his office said Sunday.
Biden, 82, was diagnosed after seeing a doctor last week due to symptoms of urine.
Cancer is a more aggressive form of disease characterized by a Gleason score of 10. This means his disease is classified as “advanced” and cancer cells may spread rapidly.
Biden and his family are said to be reviewing treatment options. The former president’s office added that cancer is sensitive to hormones, which means it can be managed.
After the diagnosis, the former president received support from both sides of the aisle.
President Donald Trump wrote in his social media platform Truth Social that he and First Lady Melania Trump “it’s hard to hear Joe Biden’s recent medical diagnosis.”
“We extend our warmest and best wishes to Jill and our family,” he said. “We hope Joe will recover quickly and successfully.”
Former Vice President Kamala Harris, who serves in Biden, wrote on X that she and her husband Doug Emhoff are praying for the Biden family.
“Joe is a fighter – I know he will face this challenge with the same strength, resilience and optimism that has always defined his life and leadership.”
The news comes nearly a year after the former president was forced to withdraw from concerns about his health and age in the 2024 U.S. presidential election. He is the oldest man to serve in office in American history.
Biden, then-Democratic candidate for reelection, faces growing criticism in a television debate on Republican candidate and incumbent President Donald Trump in June. His vice president, Harris, replaced him as a Democratic candidate.
According to the Cleveland Clinic, prostate cancer is the second most common cancer after skin cancer. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) says 13 out of every 100 men will develop prostate cancer at some point in their lives.
The CDC says age is the most common risk factor.
Dr William Dahut, the chief scientific officer of the American Cancer Society and trained prostate cancer physician, told the BBC that cancer is inherently more aggressive, according to public information from Biden’s diagnosis.
“In general, if the cancer has spread to the bones, we don’t think it is considered a curable cancer,” Dr. Dahut said.
However, he noted that most patients tend to respond well to initial treatment, and that “people can live in the diagnosis for many years.”
Dr. Dahut said people diagnosed by the former president may offer hormone therapy to relieve symptoms and slow the growth of cancer cells.
Biden has largely retreated from the public eye since leaving the White House, with little public appearance.
The former president gave a keynote speech in April at a Chicago conference held by advocates, counselors and representatives of people with disabilities, an American advocacy group.
In May, he sat down for an interview with the BBC – his first since leaving the White House – and he admitted that the decision to resign from the 2024 game was “difficult”.
Biden has faced doubts about his health in recent months.
Biden denied his claim of cognitive decline in the last year of the White House, showing up on the May perspective plan. “There’s nothing to maintain,” he said.
For years, the president has advocated cancer research. In 2022, he and Mrs. Biden re-launched the Cancer Moon Initiative with the goal of mobilizing research to prevent 4 million cancer deaths in 2047.
Biden himself lost his eldest son Beau in 2015.
