On a Thursday in November, a former president who has lived with his own cancer for a year and a half used his voice to ask other men to do what could have changed his story sooner: get tested. Joe Biden, now 83 and carrying an illness that has reached his bones, shared new American Cancer Society guidance that moves screening earlier and makes it more frequent for those at highest risk. It is a quiet reminder that a diagnosis can become a public teaching, and that the advice he once received too late is now offered to strangers in hope of catching the disease while it can still be beaten.
Biden Urges Men to Get Screened After American Cancer Society Updates Prostate Guidelines
Former President Biden is living with advanced prostate cancer that has spread to his bones, and his family says it will be a lifelong condition requiring ongoing monitoring.
"Some days are better than others," Biden wrote. "But sometimes it slows me down."
Mark
Why does a post about screening guidelines carry weight coming from Biden specifically?
Mimi
Because he's living the outcome. His cancer was found already in the bones, with a Gleason score of 9, and now he's telling other men to test earlier and more often.
Luke
Worth noting the post itself is advice relayed from the American Cancer Society. The reporting here doesn't detail the evidence behind the new schedule beyond rising rates of advanced disease.
Mark
And the schedule changed from what he said in September?
Mimi
Yes. Then it was start around 50 and repeat every two to four years. Now it's every two years for 50 to 69, and yearly from 45 for Black men and men with a family history.
Luke
Right, though the source doesn't say whether his September advice reflected the old guidelines or his own wording. I wouldn't read a reversal into it.
Mark
What do we actually know about his health now?
Mimi
Diagnosis in May 2025, radiation and hormone treatment, and his own words Sunday that some days are better than others.
Luke
And that's about all. His office hasn't shared new treatment details since Sunday, and we don't know which book events were cut.
Mark
The memoir lands in the middle of this.
Mimi
It does, with Trump's letter printed in full, a letter Biden kept private for over five years.
Der Puls
- A former president battling advanced prostate cancer that has spread to his bones is urging men to get screened after a sharp change in national guidance.
- The new American Cancer Society schedule calls for yearly PSA testing from age 45 for Black men and those with family history, a shift that reframes routine checkups.
- Biden's own admission that the illness 'slows me down' lands just days before his memoir, Promise Me, America, goes on sale, casting a shadow over his book tour.
- His office has released no new treatment details, and the family describes a lifelong condition monitored every three months, so the next update remains uncertain.
On a Thursday in November, a former president who has lived with his own cancer for a year and a half used his voice to ask other men to do what could have changed his story sooner: get tested. Joe Biden, now 83 and carrying an illness that has reached his bones, shared new American Cancer Society guidance that moves screening earlier and makes it more frequent for those at highest risk. It is a quiet reminder that a diagnosis can become a public teaching, and that the advice he once received too late is now offered to strangers in hope of catching the disease while it can still be beaten.
On Thursday, Joe Biden posted on X urging men to get screened for prostate cancer, days after the American Cancer Society revised its guidance. Men aged 50 to 69 should now be tested every two years, while Black men and those with a family history should begin yearly testing at 45. Biden wrote that he knows firsthand the toll of the disease and that catching it early saves lives.
The new advice is more frequent than what he suggested just two months ago, when he advised screening every two to four years. His own diagnosis came in May 2025, less than four months after he left the White House. The cancer was aggressive and had already spread to his bones. He has since undergone radiation and hormone therapy, and his family says he will live with it for the rest of his life.
His most recent comment on his health came in a post about his memoir, Promise Me, America. "Some days are better than others," he wrote. "It hasn't stopped me. But sometimes it slows me down." The book goes on sale November 17, and his tour will be smaller than planned. The next thing to watch is which appearances he keeps and whether his office offers any update on his treatment.
On Thursday, former President Joe Biden posted a message on X telling men to get screened for prostate cancer. It came after the American Cancer Society changed its screening guidelines, and four days after Biden said his own illness has been slowing him down.
In the post, Biden set out the new advice. Men ages 50 to 69 should have a PSA test every two years. Black men, and men with a family history of prostate cancer, should be tested every year starting at 45. From age 70, men should talk with their doctors about what makes sense for them. "I know firsthand the toll of this disease, and I know that catching it early saves lives," he wrote, urging readers to talk to a doctor and get screened. His post shared a report saying the society now recommends that most men 50 to 69 be screened every other year, as rates of advanced prostate cancer keep rising.
The new schedule is more frequent than the advice Biden gave two months earlier. In September he said men at average risk should begin screening around 50 and repeat it every two to four years. In that same message, marking Prostate Cancer Awareness Month, he noted that when the disease is caught early, five-year survival is close to 100 percent. Newsweek has asked Biden's office for comment.
Biden is 83, the oldest living former president, and among the most prominent Americans living with advanced prostate cancer. His office announced the diagnosis on May 18, 2025, less than four months after he left the White House. The cancer was an aggressive form that had already spread to his bones, with a Gleason score of 9, a high-grade reading. His office said then that it appeared hormone-sensitive, which allows for effective management. He has since undergone radiation and hormone treatment, and in September he said the radiation he received the previous fall "worked as intended."
His family has spoken plainly about it. In August, Jill Biden told Kelly Ripa on SiriusXM's Let's Talk Off Camera that her husband is "doing OK," but that "he will forever live with cancer," with testing and medicines to be watched every three months. Days later, Hunter Biden told the BBC's Newsnight that the cancer had "metastasized into his bones and further," adding, "It's really sad to watch."
Biden's most recent health comment came Sunday, in a post mostly about his book. "Some days are better than others," he wrote. "It hasn't stopped me. But sometimes it slows me down." He said that means fewer conversations about the book than he had hoped, but that he is hopeful the words on the page will speak for themselves. He has not said which appearances, if any, were dropped, and his office has released no new treatment details since. In a July video announcing the book, he had described his treatment as "going really well."
The book is Promise Me, America, a 480-page memoir from Little, Brown and Company, going on sale November 17. Biden says it covers the challenges his administration faced, the decisions he made and why. He turns 84 three days later. Excerpts released this week include the full text of the private letter Donald Trump left him in the Oval Office in January 2021, according to an excerpt obtained by The New York Times.
On his first afternoon as president, January 20, 2021, Biden took one reporter question about the note and called it "very generous," saying he would not discuss it until he spoke to Trump. The two-page handwritten letter, in an envelope addressed "To '46,'" says, "Coming to work every day in the Oval Office is a blessing beyond imagination." Trump wrote that Biden would now carry the hopes and dreams of the nation, praised his love of country and expressed confidence in his ability to lead, closing, "May God bless you and Jill, and may God bless America!" and signing it "Donald." Trump wrote it two weeks after the January 6 riot at the Capitol; he never conceded the 2020 election and flew to Florida the morning of Biden's inauguration. Elsewhere in the memoir, Biden is harshly critical of both Trump administrations and suggests the letter makes it seem there were two versions of Trump.
With the book out Tuesday week and a lighter tour ahead, the next signals to watch are which appearances Biden keeps, and whether his office offers any further update on his treatment.
Bemerkenswerte Zitate
I know firsthand the toll of this disease, and I know that catching it early saves lives.— Joe Biden, post on X
He will forever live with cancer, and we have to be mindful of it every three months.— Jill Biden, SiriusXM's Let's Talk Off Camera
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