Former President Joe Biden revealed this Sunday that the cancer he is suffering from affects his pace of life, although he assured that it has not stopped him, in a message posted on his X account where he also announced the upcoming publication of his presidential memoirs.
"Some days are better than others. It hasn't stopped me. But sometimes it slows me down," Biden wrote, taking the opportunity to inform that his doctors "remain encouraged" by his response to treatment.
The diagnosis came while the former president was working on the book. "While I was writing the book, I was diagnosed with cancer, an illness that millions of Americans and their families know all too well," he noted.
Biden was diagnosed with aggressive prostate cancer on May 16, 2025, with a Gleason score of 9 — the highest-risk category — and with bone metastases already present at the time of diagnosis, placing him at stage IV.
After the diagnosis, the former president began hormone therapy and later started combined radiation therapy in the fall of 2025, completing a round on October 21 of that year.
In September 2026, Biden declared that the radiotherapy "worked as expected", although the severity of his condition became evident when his son Hunter Biden revealed in August 2026 that the cancer had spread "to the bones and beyond" and described it as "very painful."
Days before this Sunday's message, Hunter Biden spoke again about his father's condition, describing the treatment as "incredibly exhausting" for the body, although he clarified that the former president was "well" given the seriousness of the situation.
The health update was linked to the announcement of Biden's presidential memoirs, titled Promise Me, America, which is scheduled for release on November 17 through Little, Brown and Company in the United States.
The book, consisting of between 448 and 480 pages priced at 42 dollars, discusses his presidency, the COVID-19 pandemic, the wars in Afghanistan and Ukraine, the Capitol riot on January 6, 2021, and his decision to withdraw from the 2024 reelection bid.
Biden acknowledged that his condition will prevent him from doing as many book presentations as he had planned. "Unfortunately, I won't be able to have as many conversations about my book as I had hoped. However, I trust that the words on the page will speak for themselves," he wrote.
The former president closed his message with the advice his father gave him since he was young: "Champion, when you get knocked down, get back up." "It's a good lesson for me. And for the United States," Biden added, who will turn 84 years old on November 20, three days after the book's release.
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