Former President Joseph R. Biden Jr. is undergoing radiation therapy and hormone treatment for prostate cancer, his spokeswoman Kelly Scully disclosed on Saturday.
The treatment, which began last month, is expected to last several weeks. Mr. Biden, 82, has dealt with numerous health problems in recent years. In May, he was diagnosed with Stage 4 prostate cancer and last month, he had surgery to remove cancerous skin lesions from his forehead, leaving him with a large scar above his right eye.
In 2023, when he was president, he had a cancerous lesion removed from his chest during a physical exam at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center.
Mr. Biden’s age and health were significant drags on his popularity as president and led to wide swaths of voters disagreeing with his decision to seek re-election last year. He ended his campaign in July following a disastrous performance during his lone debate with Donald J. Trump.
Despite the radiation treatments, he intends to keep his plans to appear at a pair of upcoming public events, Ms. Scully said.
The former president is to receive a lifetime achievement award from the Edward M. Kennedy Institute in Boston on Oct. 26 and on Nov. 7, he is scheduled to speak at a fund-raising dinner in Omaha for the Nebraska Democratic Party.
Though his cancer is an aggressive form that has spread to his bones, prostate cancer experts have said that men can live for several years with the disease.
On Thursday, Gov. Bob Ferguson of Washington State posted on X a photograph of himself playing chess with Mr. Biden at his Delaware home. Mr. Ferguson is a chess master who twice won the Washington State chess championship.
“Great to see President Biden, Dr. Biden, and their cat Willow today,” Mr. Ferguson wrote. “Played chess against President Biden and discussed how we can move our country forward.”
Reid J. Epstein covers campaigns and elections from Washington. Before joining The Times in 2019, he worked at The Wall Street Journal, Politico, Newsday and The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
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