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Tag: Promise Me America

  • Biden: ‘Absurd’ to Say I Hid My Stage 4 Cancer

    Biden: ‘Absurd’ to Say I Hid My Stage 4 Cancer

    Former United States President Joe Biden has broken his silence on the stage 4 cancer diagnosis he received last year, rejecting suggestions that he concealed the illness while he was still in office.

    In excerpts from his memoir, “Promise Me, America”, published by MS NOW on Tuesday, 10 November 2026, Biden wrote that the idea he would have hidden a cancer “ravaging” his body was “absurd”. “There isn’t anyone in this world with stage 4 cancer who doesn’t wish it had been caught sooner,” he wrote, according to the excerpts.

    Biden was diagnosed in May 2025 with an aggressive form of prostate cancer that had spread to his bones. Doctors gave the disease a Gleason score of 9, a measure that indicates a fast-growing and aggressive cancer. The diagnosis came months after he had left the White House, and it quickly became the subject of intense public and political debate.

    In the memoir, which is due to be published on 17 November, Biden argued that the timing of the diagnosis should not have come as a surprise. He wrote that it is “standard medical protocol” to stop testing men for prostate cancer after the age of 70, a point he presented as an explanation for why the disease was not detected earlier.

    Biden completed his treatment in October 2025. He said on Sunday that the illness has not stopped him, but that it sometimes slows him down, and that as a result he will take part in fewer conversations and events to promote the book than he had originally hoped. “I’m hopeful the words on the page speak for themselves,” he said.

    His wife, Jill Biden, has said he will live with stage 4 cancer for the rest of his life, a reality the former president has acknowledged as he prepares to discuss the book in public.

    The memoir looks back over Biden’s four years in the White House, including the Covid-19 pandemic, the aftermath of the 6 January 2021 attack on the US Capitol, his domestic legislation and his foreign policy, as well as the deliberations that led him to end his re-election campaign in 2024. The cancer passages are among its most personal sections, and they are likely to be among the most closely read when the book appears next week.

  • Cancer Slows Biden: Fewer Talks for New Memoir

    Cancer Slows Biden: Fewer Talks for New Memoir

    Former United States President Joe Biden has said his cancer will limit how much he can do to promote his new memoir, telling supporters that some days are harder than others.

    Biden, 83, shared the update on social media on Sunday, just days before his presidential memoir, “Promise Me, America,” is due to be released on November 17.

    “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.”

    He added that his doctors remain encouraged by how he has responded to treatment, and thanked people for their prayers and kind words during his illness.

    A book written through illness

    Biden said he was diagnosed with cancer while he was writing the memoir, a disease he described as one known all too well to millions of Americans and their families.

    He revealed the diagnosis in May 2025, less than four months after leaving the White House. His office said at the time that he had a more aggressive form of prostate cancer, but that it appeared to be hormone-sensitive, which allows for effective management.

    In August, his son Hunter told the BBC that the cancer had spread further into his father’s bones, describing the situation as painful to watch.

    The memoir covers Biden’s four years in the White House, including the challenges his administration faced, the decisions he made and why he made them.

    “It’s about who we are as a nation. What we stand for. And America’s role in the world,” he wrote.

    A milestone birthday approaches

    Biden turns 84 on November 20, three days after the book reaches shelves. He is the oldest living president in American history.

    The memoir, published by Little, Brown and Company, is his first full account of his presidency, covering the pandemic, the withdrawal of US forces from Afghanistan and his decision to end his re-election campaign in 2024.

    While the illness has slowed him down, Biden made clear he still hopes readers will judge the book on its own terms, and that its message about America will speak for itself.