Biden suffers from aggressive prostate cancer

Former US President Joe Biden is suffering from aggressive, metastatic prostate cancer, his personal office announced in a statement. The diagnosis of Donald Trump’s predecessor in the White House comes just days after debate about the president’s mental acuity during his final term in office had come to the fore.

“Last week, President Joe Biden was seen for a new finding of a prostate nodule after experiencing increasing urinary symptoms,” read a statement released by the president’s personal office. “On Friday he was diagnosed with prostate cancer, characterized by a Gleason score of 9 (Grade Group 5) with metastasis to the bone.” “While this represents a more aggressive form of the disease, the cancer appears to be hormone-sensitive which allows for effective management,” the statement continued. “The President and his family are reviewing treatment options with his physicians.”

Gleason scores 9 and 10, the highest on the scale, are considered high risk and are usually associated with more advanced stages of prostate cancer. Treatment options for prostate cancer with these scores may include aggressive approaches such as surgery, radiation therapy and hormone therapy.

Biden is so far the oldest president in office, although Donald Trump will surpass him should he complete his current term. Biden’s last medical examination as president, conducted last year, described him as a healthy 81-year-old man, fit for duty and able to fully execute his responsibilities without exception, according to his doctor.

Biden did suffer from obstructive sleep apnea, for which he sleeps most nights with a machine that helps clear his airway. The doctor then blamed the president’s clumsiness in his movements, which had become more evident in recent months, on “moderate to severe spondylosis,” which is, in translation, an age-related degeneration of the spinal discs. He also suffers from peripheral neuropathy, a nerve condition, which causes pain and stiffness in his feet.

That version of Biden’s fitness for office had recently been called into question. In recent days, the Trump Administration has released the recording of the interrogation conducted against him in the investigation of the classified papers found in his home and in a personal office. In the recording, he is perceived as hesitant and forgetful with details and dates.

At the same time, a new book, Original Sin, by journalists Jake Tapper, star CNN anchor, and Alex Thompson, reporter for Axios, points out that “the original sin” of the title was Biden’s decision to run for re-election, “followed by aggressive efforts” by his entourage “to hide his cognitive impairment.” The book is scheduled for publication on May 20, but advance excerpts, such as the one describing the moment he failed to recognize his friend, actor George Clooney, have reignited the debate.

This cognitive deterioration was revealed in all its rawness in the electoral debate he held with Trump in Atlanta (Georgia) in June last year. The tidal wave of lapses, hesitations and lost sentences raised the pressure for him to give up running for reelection. He eventually relinquished the baton to his vice president, Kamala Harris, who was defeated by Trump in the November 5 election.

Biden has kept a low profile since his retirement. He has returned to Wilmington, Delaware, and has participated in few public events. He reappeared on April 15 to give a speech on Social Security in which he criticized the damage done by Trump to that institution. He also attended, accompanied by his wife, Jill Biden, the funeral for Pope Francis at the Vatican late last month. He also gave some interviews in which he assured that he maintained his mental faculties.

As for his physical condition, his ailments and clumsiness of movement were known, but the prostate cancer had advanced rapidly before being diagnosed.