Jonathan Kearsly: US correspondent on the implications of Joe Biden's cancer diagnosis

Joe Biden's prostate cancer diagnosis has come after earlier intense public scrutiny of his health fitness for the presidency. 

The former US President has an aggressive form of prostate cancer, with possible treatment available, although it's not curable and has spread to his bones. 

US correspondent Jonathan Kearsly says it comes at an interesting time - when his legacy is being questioned. 

"Hard questions, obviously, over his health, his mental acuity while he was in office - and now, two days before a book is set to be released about those very concerns."

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
News out of the US, of course, is that Joe
Biden has been diagnosed with stage four prostate cancer that
has spread to his bones. In a statement has offered
said that the eighty two year old two year old
rather was diagnosed on Friday. Channel nine US correspondent Jonathan
Kurzley is with US Now. Hey, Jonathan Heather, Hello to
you and the listeners. Now, he's been set at a

(00:21):
level I'm guessing it's out of ten. At a nine,
that sounds bad, is it.

Speaker 2 (00:26):
Yeah, it's deeply worrying for the president and for his family.
We heard this statement come out of his personal office
a few hours ago now, and he talked about this
sort of Gleason scale, which is, as you said, out
of ten. He sits at a nine confirmed yet prostate
cancer that was diagnosed on Friday, US time. It's two

(00:47):
days ago from now. They'd found a nodule in his
prostate last week when he went for a check. It
was obviously examined and tested, and it's come back with
what is very very serious news. It is prostate cancer
that is aggressive. It is also, as you said, spread
to his bones. Now medical experts are saying that that

(01:09):
is not a good sign. Combine that with the Gleason
scale level of nine, you're looking at a cancer that
is not durable, but treatable. It is manageable. So the
question now for Joe Biden and his family is the
path forward. What sort of treatment options do they want
to go through? What sort of treatment options are open
to them, and so that's the key question they're going

(01:31):
to have to decide on now. For the eighty two
year old who had questions obviously over his health is
mental acuity while he was in office, And now two
days before a book is set to be released about
those very concerns and a book that is set to
be damning, he has confirmed the very sad news that

(01:51):
he has what is a very aggressive form of prostate cancer.

Speaker 1 (01:54):
So what are the treatment options available to him.

Speaker 2 (01:58):
Well, there's some immunotherapy options that are open to him
as a possible way forward. His office is also saying
that this is responding to could respond to hormone style treatment,
so that is essentially suppressing the testosterone in his system.
That's what medical experts are saying. And it was interesting
the statement that came out from his office said that

(02:20):
the form of cancer he has seems to be able
to or can respond to that hormone management, that hormone
treatment as a level of managing this cancer. So that
may well be a path forward, and that may well
be an indication of which way Joe Biden goes down
for this treatment. We've certainly seen a flood of support
come in from right across the political divide. Barack Obama,

(02:43):
Kamala Harris, who was of course his vice president, and
US President Donald Trump put out a very presidential style statement,
if you like, to say that he was saddened by
the news of the diagnosis of the former president and
hoped for a speedy recovery. So clearly there are a
lot of thoughts going to the former president now as

(03:03):
he faces what he's going to be a very, very
difficult and serious challenge for him.

Speaker 1 (03:07):
Jonathan, I read somewhere that you, as you say, you
never really kill this kind of cancer, especially at this
stage and how serious it doesn't want it's in your bones.
You just basically manage it, and management would suggest four
to five years of life lift. Is that about right?

Speaker 2 (03:23):
Well, I'd rather leave it to the doctors to work
out the exact prognosis as to how long the former
president has a range of medical experts that are speaking today.
They're not treating the former president. They don't know. What
they're all saying is that each individual cancer case is
of its own. There are generalizations that can be made,
but there are specifics that apply to certain individuals. You

(03:46):
do have to look at Joe Biden's age and say
he's eighty two. That adds another layer of concern. The
fact it's spread to his bones. Yes, that's also a concern,
But I think we're best off waiting to hear exactly
from his offers from his doctors as to how long
they may well have given him. Clearly there was a
reason why they didn't state that. Today they are obviously

(04:07):
looking at treatment options and not wanting to talk negatively
about it, but there are certainly going to be questions
about how long could Joe Biden potentially push through this.
I was having a look at the numbers today. It's
estimated that there's going to be some three hundred thousand
plus Americans diagnosed with prostate cancer this year alone. Thirty
five thousand of those are estimated will die. So you're

(04:29):
looking at a ten percent rate where people do not
make it for this type of cancer, you then have
to bear in mind while there's different varying levels of it.
Clearly this one has been caught very late. It's been
caught very aggressively. The last full annual checkup Joe Biden
had as president as commander in chief was in February

(04:49):
of last year, when his doctor Kevin O'Connor said he
was in a very fit condition. Clearly something has happened
in that timeframe. Clearly there has been a huge developm.

Speaker 1 (05:00):
I'm getting a lot of texts along these lines. How
is it that somebody who was having regular and presumably
thorough annual checkups, this only gets spotted when it's like
well advanced.

Speaker 2 (05:12):
I think these are the questions that right now, rightly
are being asked. Is this clearly wasn't being portrayed in
his annual report last year. There was a statement put
out a few years ago after one of his annual
checkups that described polyps being found in his prostate. Again,
that was the same doctor Kevin O'Connor. That was back

(05:34):
in twenty twenty one, So that would have been his
first checkup after coming into office, when he would have
gone down to wall to read and gone through this
medical scenario of going through all of the screening and
testing and everything else that are presidential's annual checkup goes through.
But you do have to look at the timing now
and go, okay, well, his last full checkup was February

(05:55):
of last year. You're now looking at May twenty twenty five,
and all of a sudden, there is a very aggressive
prostate cancer in there. Now. It may well also be
a reminder and a message to men right across the
board to say, if you're of a certain age, go
get yourself checked. And I think it certainly props those
warnings as well. But clearly there are huge concerns now

(06:17):
for the former president. We've seen some insinuations from Donald
Trump Junior suggesting that this may well have been covered
up the entire time, and it's interesting seeing that statement
compared to the one from Donald Trump Junior's father. But
certainly Joe Biden has a very very difficult and very
very serious challenge ahead of him over the course of

(06:39):
the next weeks and months.

Speaker 1 (06:40):
Jonathan's good to talk to you. Thank you for that, mate,
appreciate it. As Jonathan Kursley Channel nine US correspondent.

Speaker 2 (06:46):
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