Former President Joe Biden has been diagnosed with cancer.
“Last week, President Joe Biden was seen for a new finding of a prostate nodule after experiencing increasing urinary symptoms,” a statement sent from 82-year-old Biden’s personal office to CNN on Sunday, May 18, read. “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 added, “While this represents a more aggressive form of the disease, the cancer appears to be hormone-sensitive, which allows for effective management.”
Biden and his family, including wife Dr. Jill Biden, are currently “reviewing treatment options with his physicians.”
Joe’s office previously confirmed earlier this week that a “small nodule” had been found on his prostate during an annual physical.
“In a routine physical exam, a small nodule was found in the prostate, which necessitated further evaluation,” a statement said at the time.
The former senator served as vice president under former President Barack Obama for two terms before he was elected the 46th president of the United States in 2020, defeating incumbent Donald Trump. Joe initially sought reelection before ending his 2024 presidential campaign and endorsing then-Vice President Kamala Harris a little more than 100 days before the presidential election.
Neither Joe nor Jill, 73, nor their children and grandchildren — the married couple share daughter Ashley, while Joe and late first wife Neilia Biden shared Hunter and the late Beau and Naomi — have further addressed his cancer battle.
The Bidens are a famously close-knit family.
“He’ll pick up our calls no matter where he is,” Hunter’s daughter Naomi told PBS in an August 2020 interview. “He’ll be onstage, giving a speech, and we’d call him and he’d be like, ‘What’s wrong?!’”
Naomi, 31, further gushed that she and her cousins had all “grown up together.”
“He’s made sure that every single tradition, every holiday, we’re all together,” she added. “I don’t think there’s been any decision, no matter how big or small, that we haven’t decided as a family.”
Joe and Jill share six grandchildren. Hunter, 55, and ex-wife Kathleen Buhle are parents to daughters Naomi, Finnegan and Maisy. Hunter also shares son Beau with wife Melissa Cohen. Beau, who died in 2015 after battling brain cancer at the age of 46, was father to daughter Natalie and son Hunter, whom he shared with wife Hallie Olivere.
Joe had previously been candid about Beau’s terminal cancer battle.
“He knew his time was up and, one night, we were having dinner at our home before he was hospitalized, and he said, ‘Dad, can we talk?’” Joe recalled on the Howard Stern Show in April 2024. “He said, ‘Promise me that you won’t leave public life [and public office]. I know when I go, you’ll want to quit. Give me your word as a Biden.’ … I gave him my word.”
