"Cancer touches us all": Biden shares post after cancer diagnosis

[Ms. Toad]

15. It is magical thinking to assert it is NOT the beginning of the end.

In a study published last year, 43% of men diagnosed with prostate cancer with a Gleason score of 9 or 10 died of prostate cancer within the follow-up period (an average of 8.3 years).

https://euoncology.europeanurology.com/article/S2588-9311(23)00244-4/fulltext

Regardless of improved treatments, advanced prostate cancer is still a killer.

Does that mean Biden will die from it? No. He may be one of the lucky ones who go into remission. But nearly one in two still die from prostate cancer diagnosed in the grade group in which he was diagnosed. Not to mention that not all of those in the study had metastasis, which worsens the odds of long term survival.

We also don't know whether his Gleason score was 5+4 or 4+5. The former has a significantly worse prognosis.

And people make different choices about treatment. Many cancer treatments are not gentle - some people choose quality of life over quantity of life.

I am sharing this as someone living with two types of cancer - both currently in remission. One of the cancers is very aggressive, and I am in a support group for that cancer. I regularly see both death and the loss in quality of remaining life that insisting on beating cancer at all costs causes. From that perspective, magical thinking does as much harm as doomsday thinking.

I wish him great medical advice, and the pressure-free space to make the decisions which are best for himself and for his family.