Former President Joe Biden on Tuesday provided an update on his prostate cancer treatment, coming more than a year after he announced the diagnosis.
In a lengthy statement issued on X, the former president wrote that his radiation treatment last fall “worked as intended” and said he is “deeply grateful to the doctors, nurses and other medical professionals who helped to control my cancer and who continue to take such good care of me.”
“Thank you to everyone who has reached out and continues to keep me and my family in your prayers. We appreciate every single one of you,” Biden said, adding that he is continuing to work on his memoir.
Biden also made note of September being Prostate Cancer Awareness Month, adding that data has shown that hundreds of thousands of American men each year will be diagnosed with that form of cancer.
“By the time we found it, it had already spread to my bones,” he said. “When prostate cancer is caught early, the five-year survival is close to 100 percent. So have the conversation with your doctor. Don’t put it off.”
Hunter Biden, the former president’s son, told the BBC in an interview in August that his father’s cancer spread to other parts of his body, describing it as a “very debilitating” situation.
“Cancer is really hard,” he said, adding that it was “very painful” for the 83-year-old former president. “The only thing that I say about my dad, about his health right now, is I wish he would complain more.”
Since leaving the White House in early 2025, Biden has kept a relatively low profile. However, he criticized President Donald Trump over renovation projects in Washington, including updating the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool, during a Democratic Party event in June.
Cancer has impacted other members of the Biden family.
In January 2023, former First Lady Jill Biden had a basal cell carcinoma surgically removed from above her right eye, and a second basal cell carcinoma removed from the left side of her chest.
Joe Biden’s other son, Beau Biden, died in 2015 following a battle with brain cancer. The former president has routinely linked his son’s brain tumor to exposure to toxic burn pits during military deployments over the years.
Jill Biden told NBC News in June that her husband is “doing OK” and added that the cancer had spread to his bones.
“I think if he had just been diagnosed with prostate cancer, that’s one thing because that can be cured, but the fact that it metastasized to his bones, that makes it a whole different story. And so I think Joe will live with cancer till the rest of his life,” she added.
Prostate cancer is the most common form of cancer in the United States among men, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. In 2022, 255,395 new cases of the cancer were reported, the agency stated.
Ryan Morgan contributed to this report.
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