Former president Joe Biden expresses frustration and delivers a rebuke to those who suggested he covered-up and failed to disclose his cancer diagnosis in a timely manner, according to excerpts obtained by MS NOW from his soon to be released memoir.
Biden announced his prostate cancer diagnosis publicly last May, days after he said doctors first diagnosed him.
In excerpts of his personal memoir, “Promise Me, America” set to be released next week, Biden writes, “What did surprise me was the cynical twist the story took in the political press and among political commentators.” “Almost immediately, the reaction was: ‘You hid it from us.’ ‘You must have known it.’ ‘You’re lying.’ Let me tell you something: There isn’t anyone in this world with stage 4 cancer who doesn’t wish it had been caught sooner.”
The former president did not call out anyone by name, but his successor suggested Biden wasn’t being honest about his health.
President Trump initially offered his well wishes to Biden, but quickly raised questions over the former president’s cancer announcement. “I’m surprised the public wasn’t notified a long time ago because to get to stage nine, that’s a long time,” Trump said in the Oval Office at the time last year. Trump also claimed without evidence: “Somebody is not telling the facts.”
In the book, Biden chronicles experiencing “some urinary symptoms” which led him to the doctor in May 2025. Doctors found a nodule on his prostate and diagnosed him with fast-moving, stage 4 prostate cancer. Biden announced the diagnosis two days later and began receiving hormone and radiation therapy immediately.
“For anyone to think I would try to ignore or hide a cancer ravaging my body is absurd,” Biden says. “Here are the simple facts. Standard medical protocol is to stop testing men for prostate cancer after the age of seventy.”
The U.S. Preventative Services Task Force says the potential benefits of prostate screening “do not outweigh the expected harms” for men over the age of 70 years old.
“And as I sit here today, do I wish I had been tested sooner? Yes, I do. Do I wish the cancer had been caught before it spread to my bones? Yes, I do,” Biden writes. “But I was treated no differently from any other eighty-two-year-old man in America. Maybe I should have been. But I wasn’t.”
Biden, who left office as the oldest sitting president in history faced scrutiny over his age and health, particularly his mental sharpness while in office. He ended his re-election bid following a June 2024 debate with Trump after a series of moments where he struggled to answer questions and lost his train of thought. Hunter Biden speculated on a podcast earlier this year that his father was unknowingly suffering from cancer at that debate.
Seventeen months after his diagnosis, Biden says he had his final radiation therapy in October at Penn Medicine and “rang the bell to signal the conclusion of my treatment.” Biden continues to receive his hormone treatment, keeping the cancer at bay.
Ahead of his book release, Biden posted on social media that doctors “continue to be encouraged” about how he’s responded to treatment, but adds that because of his health he’s had to scale back planned events promoting his book.
“Some days are better than others. It hasn’t stopped me. But sometimes it slows me down,” he wrote. “What that means is, unfortunately, I won’t be able to do as many conversations about my book as I’d hoped. However, I’m hopeful the words on the page speak for themselves.”
Since leaving Washington, Biden has spent most days at his home in Wilmington but continues to maintain a public schedule, including headlining five state Democratic Party dinners over the last year. On Monday, he attended the groundbreaking of Biden Hall at the University of Delaware.
“In the daily grind of the White House, it could be difficult to step back and take the long view — because so much was happening every minute,” Biden writes. “But now, from my lake house, I am able to slow down and savor the results of my Presidency.”
In the book Biden reflects on his presidency and his family’s long fight against cancer. He notes former first lady Jill Biden got involved with cancer education and prevention advocacy in 1993 when four of her friends were diagnosed with breast cancer.
“All I can do— with the help of an incredible medical team and an even better family— is fight like hell. And that’s what I’m doing,” Biden writes.
The post In new book, Biden refutes allegations he hid cancer diagnosis, calling them a ‘cynical twist’ appeared first on MS NOW.
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