Former President Joe Biden has been hit with some tough news as his office announced on Sunday that he has been diagnosed with prostate cancer. The diagnosis came after doctors checked him out last week due to some urinary issues and found a nodule on his prostate. Unfortunately, the cancer has spread to his bones, making it a more aggressive form of the disease. However, the good news is that the cancer seems to be sensitive to hormones, which means it can be managed effectively. Biden and his family are currently discussing treatment options with his doctors to tackle this challenging situation.
The Gleason score, which measures the aggressiveness of prostate cancers on a scale of 1 to 10, revealed that Biden’s cancer is pretty high up there at a score of 9. When prostate cancer spreads to other parts of the body, it often targets the bones, making treatment more difficult. Metastasized cancer is no walk in the park to deal with because drugs have a tough time reaching all the tumors and eradicating the disease completely. However, in cases like Biden’s where the cancer relies on hormones to grow, treatments that cut off the hormone supply can be effective in fighting the tumors.
Biden’s health has been a hot topic among voters since his time as president, with concerns about his age coming to the forefront. Despite reports of his decline while in office, Biden has been adamant about dismissing worries about his age. He previously had a skin lesion removed in 2023 and a polyp removed in 2021, both of which were concerning health scares. In 2022, Biden launched a “cancer moonshot” initiative to reduce the cancer death rate by half over the next 25 years, building on his efforts as vice president to combat a disease that tragically took the life of his son, Beau. Now, as he faces his own battle with prostate cancer, Biden is gearing up to fight once again with the support of his loved ones and medical team by his side.
