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Joe Biden has entered a new phase of treatment, following the announcement that the former president had been diagnosed with an aggressive form of cancer.
"As part of a treatment plan for prostate cancer, President Biden is currently undergoing radiation therapy and hormone treatment," a spokesperson for Biden said in a statement Saturday.
Biden, 82, revealed he had been diagnosed with prostate cancer in May, which had also spread to his bones. At the time his office said that it could be managed with hormone treatment.
The former president had already been taking a hormone pill, and the new radiation treatment is expected to span five weeks, a source close to the matter told NBC News.
The Independent has reached out Biden’s office for further information.
It marks the latest stage in Biden’s health struggles, having undergone surgery last month to remove skin cancer lesions from his forehead.
His diagnosis came while he was still eyeing another term in the White House. Doctors found a prostate nodule after he was seen about urinary symptoms, his office said at the time.
Biden was subsequently diagnosed with stage 4 prostate cancer, which had metastasized and was given a Gleason score of nine.
“While this represents a more aggressive form of the disease, the cancer appears to be hormone-sensitive which allows for effective management,” his office said on May 18.
Multiple oncologists told NBC at the time that it was possible that Biden’s cancer had gone undiagnosed for years.
A day after the diagnosis was revealed publicly, the former president said in an online statement: “Cancer touches us all. Like so many of you, Jill and I have learned that we are strongest in the broken places.”
The Biden family has faced cancer repeatedly over the years. Biden’s son Beau died of a brain tumor in 2015, and the former First Lady has had two cancerous lesions removed previously.
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English (US) ·