Former President Joe Biden says his prostate cancer still slows him down and will limit how many appearances he can make to promote his new memoir.
The 83-year-old former president posted on X on Sunday that the disease has not stopped him, but it has forced him to cut back plans tied to the Nov. 17 release of Promise Me, America. The New York Post reported his update on the limited book push and his latest comments on treatment.
Biden said he was diagnosed while writing the book. He framed the illness as one millions of American families already know too well.
"While writing the book, I was diagnosed with cancer, a disease known all too well to millions of Americans and their families,"
he wrote. He added that some days are better than others.
He was direct about what that means for promotion.
"Some days are better than others. It hasn’t stopped me. But sometimes it slows me down. 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."
Biden announced the cancer diagnosis last year after leaving the White House. He has described it as prostate cancer that had already spread by the time doctors found it.
In a personal message last month for Prostate Awareness Month, he put the late discovery in plain terms.
"By the time we found it, it had already spread to my bones,"
Biden said. He also noted that when prostate cancer is caught early, five-year survival is close to 100%.
That gap between early detection and what he faced is now part of the public record he himself put forward. He has called the cancer stage four and said he completed treatment in October 2025.
In August, Hunter Biden described his father’s condition in stark language. He said the cancer had spread and metastasized into the bones and further.
"It’s very painful, and it’s very debilitating in many respects."
The former president has struck a more measured tone in his own posts. He said he continues to be encouraged by how he is responding to treatment, and he has thanked the medical staff treating him.
On the radiation he received last fall, Biden said the treatment worked as intended. He said he still does the things he cares about, including finishing the memoir.
"Their skill, dedication, and compassion mean so much. The radiation treatment from last fall worked as intended, and I continue to do the things I care about, like finishing my memoir,"
Promise Me, America is slated for release on Nov. 17. Biden said the book covers his years as president, the challenges of that period, the decisions he made, and why he made them.
He also cast it as a statement about national identity and America’s role in the world. In his words, it is about faith in the American people and “the great American experiment in self-governance and democracy.”
Readers will get that argument on the page. They will get fewer live conversations with the author than he first wanted.
Former first lady Jill Biden released her own book, A View from the East Wing, in June. His volume arrives months later under tighter physical limits than a standard former-president book rollout.
Biden is not claiming the cancer is gone as a daily factor. He is claiming the writing is done, the treatment course he described has been completed, and the remaining constraint is stamina for a long string of promotional events.
The book will still land on schedule. The sales tour will not look like the one he hoped to run.
Voters already lived through the years he wants to explain. Now they can read his account without needing a full slate of stage-managed stops to tell them what to think.
