Jill Biden says it was 'shocking' to learn White House doctors missed Joe's cancer
WASHINGTON, DC: After shedding light on the health struggles that loomed over Joe Biden's ill-fated presidential debate, Jill Biden is opening up about a deeply personal moment that caught even those closest to the former president by surprise.
The 74-year-old Former First Lady described her alarm at learning of her husband’s cancer diagnosis, expressing that it was “shocking” to learn White House doctors missed it.
Nearly six months after leaving the White House, the former President revealed, in May last year, that he had been diagnosed with an “aggressive” form of prostate cancer.
At that time, a spokesperson said that Joe had been seen by a doctor “for a new finding of a prostate nodule after experiencing increasing urinary symptoms.”
Jill Biden remembers receiving the 'shocking' diagnosis
Jill recently sat down for an interview with CBS News Sunday Morning, where she described the shock at learning of her husband’s diagnosis.
“I can remember getting the diagnosis, and it was just, it was shocking,” she said in a 40-second snippet of the interview shared by the program on Friday, May 29.
She noted that her husband's physician explained that routine blood screenings for prostate cancer are generally not recommended for men over 70, citing guidance from the American Urological Association that the disease often progresses slowly.
“I do feel we had amazing care in the White House, but somehow that was missed,” she said of Joe’s cancer.
In another excerpt from the interview released Wednesday, Jill looked back on Joe Biden's widely criticized debate performance against President Trump during the 2024 CNN presidential showdown.
Jill said she was “frightened” while she watched her husband struggle to finish his answers on stage. “I mean, as I watched it, I thought, ‘Oh my god, he’s having a stroke,’” she noted. “And it scared me to death.”
Biden family gives update on former president’s cancer battle
The Biden family has been delivering updates on the former president’s battle with aggressive cancer, with his son, Hunter Biden, saying Joe’s cancer had spread to his spinal cord.
“They can treat it, but it's not curable,” Hunter told podcaster Andrew Callaghan in a July interview.
In October, Biden reached a major milestone in his recovery journey by completing radiation treatment. His daughter, Ashley Biden, marked the occasion by posting a video of the former president ringing the celebratory bell at a Philadelphia cancer treatment center.
“Dad has been so damn brave throughout his treatment,” she captioned the post on her Instagram story. “Grateful.”
In September, Joe also underwent Mohs surgery, a procedure used to treat skin cancer. In 2023, while still in office, doctors removed a cancerous lesion from Joe’s chest.
