Former President Joe Biden’s cancer continues to worsen, according to his son Hunter Biden.
“The cancer has spread, metastasized into his bones and further,” he said of his father in a Friday interview with the BBC. “It's very painful. It’s very debilitating in many respects, but he’s still out there. He’s still doing his thing. He so believes in this country.”
“It’s really, really hard and it’s really sad to watch,” Biden added of how the former president’s struggles have impacted the family.
In an interview this month with SiriusXM’s Let’s Talk Off Camera with Kelly Ripa, former First Lady Dr. Jill Biden spoke of the president’s “challenging” prostate cancer diagnosis, which he announced last May.
“We have to be mindful of it every three months, testing and medicines,” she said. “And anybody who’s gone through this cancer journey — and I’ve been through it many times with members of my family, of course with Beau — it’s constant. It’s daily. And I think it’s challenging.”
The former president’s eldest son, Beau, died from glioblastoma, an aggressive form of brain cancer, in 2015.
Last month, as the former president announced a forthcoming memoir, he said his treatment had been progressing positively.
"I’ve been spending a lot of time with my family,” he said in a statement. “I’m dealing with a cancer diagnosis, been getting treatment, and it’s going really well. I want to thank all those who have offered their prayers and support and well-wishes. It’s meant the world to me and to Jill."
Last May, the Democrat announced he had been diagnosed with an “aggressive” form of prostate cancer. He has subsequently been undergoing radiation and hormone therapy, according to his office.
Concern over Biden’s health and mental fitness dominated the end of his second term and 2024 presidential campaign, from which he ultimately dropped out, clearing the way for his Vice President Kamala Harris to mount an unsuccessful bid for the White House against Donald Trump.
Critics accused the Biden administration of concealing the extent of the president’s health struggles and paving the way for the Democrats’ bruising 2024 loss.
Since leaving office, Biden has largely kept with the presidential tradition of remaining quiet about his successor, though he hit out at Trump in June during a Democratic fundraiser in Maryland, calling the Republican a “loser” for continuing to pursue “vanity projects” such as demolishing the East Wing of the White House to build a ballroom.
The ex-president has a endorsed a handful of candidates ahead of the midterms, where Democrats are forecast to retake the House with the balance of power in Congress at stake.
Overall, it appears both the former president and Democrats on the ballot are not trying to bring too much attention to the Biden administration after leaving office with a poor approval rating circling the high 30s.
In an election season dominated by affordability concerns, some ex-Biden officials have made a point of not mentioning the Democrat in their campaign, perhaps owing to Biden’s association with high inflation towards the end of his term.
Meanwhile, Biden’s memoir, Promise Me, America, will not come out until after the midterms.
Throughout this year, health concerns about aging lawmakers have been a major topic of conversation in Washington D.C. following the sudden death of Sen. Lindsey Graham and the extended hospitalization of Sen. Mitch McConnell, who was discharged from a rehabilitation center this Thursday after missing weeks of congressional business.
