Former President Joe Biden said on May 30 that he is “optimistic” about the treatment plan for his Stage 4 prostate cancer, which involves taking a daily pill for six weeks.
“We’re underway and all the folks are very optimistic,” Biden said. “The expectation is we’re going to be able to beat this. It’s not in any (other) organ. My bones are strong, it hasn’t penetrated. So I’m feeling good.”
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Doctors found a “small nodule” on Biden’s prostate during a routine exam; the 82-year-old was diagnosed Friday, May 16, according to a statement released by his office.
Speaking to reporters at a Delaware Memorial Day event for the first time since announcing his diagnosis, Biden said that he is being treated by a top doctor in the field. Biden’s physician has lived through the same aggressive form of cancer as the former president.
“We’re all optimistic about the diagnosis. Matter of fact, one of the leading surgeons in the world is working with me and he was diagnosed with the same exact thing 32 years ago,” Biden said. “He’s alive and well, doing very well.”
Biden spoke with reporters as he left the annual Memorial Day event at Veterans Memorial Park in New Castle, Delaware, which coincided with the 10th anniversary of his son Beau Biden’s death.
It was also the first time Biden spoke to reporters since a book was published raising questions about his physical and mental fitness while he was president. A White House spokeswoman alleged Thursday that former first lady Jill Biden conspired to keep her husband’s health from the American people.
When asked to respond, Biden, who had just given a 10-minute speech and walked over to the throng of reporters, joked, “You can see that I’m mentally incompetent and I can’t walk.”
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Joe Biden ‘optimistic’ about cancer treatment, doctor, meds
