"Michelle and I are thinking of the entire Biden family," Obama wrote on social media. "Nobody has done more to find breakthrough treatments for cancer in all its forms than Joe, and I am certain he will fight this challenge with his trademark resolve and grace. We pray for a fast and full recovery."
Biden's office shared the news yesterday in a statement, noting he had been diagnosed on Friday. The diagnosis follows an announcement last week that during "a routine physical exam," Biden's doctors discovered a "small nodule" on his prostate that they said required "further evaluation."
"Last week, President Joe Biden was seen for a new finding of a prostate nodule after experiencing increasing urinary symptoms. 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 said. "While this represents a more aggressive form of the disease, the cancer appears to be hormone-sensitive which allows for effective management. The president and his family are reviewing treatment options with his physicians."
Obama's statement refers to Biden's Cancer Moonshot initiative, which he initially launched while vice president in 2016. It was reestablished in 2022 after he took office as president. It was created with the goal of "making a decade's worth of progress in cancer prevention, diagnosis, and treatment in five years." To date, it has supported 250 research projects and more than 70 programs and consortia.
Biden was inspired to focus on cancer research after his son Beau died at the age of 46 in 2015 after being diagnosed with glioblastoma multiforme, the most aggressive type of brain cancer.
The American Cancer Society estimates that one in eight men will be diagnosed with prostate cancer in their lifetime with risk depending on age, race, ethnicity, and other factors.