First Lady Dr. Jill Biden sat down with conservative media outlet Newsmax over the weekend to discuss the administration’s efforts to end cancer, a longtime passion shared by both the first lady and the president.
Dr. Biden spoke with Newsmax host Nancy Brinker, who herself is a breast cancer survivor and founder of Susan G. Komen for the Cure, to discuss the Cancer Moonshot Initiative, which dates back to Joe Biden’s days as vice president under Barack Obama. The president revived the effort in February, outlining a vision to cut cancer deaths in half over the next 25 years. The first lady’s full, 20-minute interview with Newsmax aired on Monday at 9 p.m. Eastern.
"We have to create awareness, we have to work together," the first lady told Brinker of the fight to end cancer. "It's not, you know, a red issue or a blue issue. Cancer affects every American family."
Newsmax is not the typical host of choice for the Biden administration, with its focus on conservative audiences and controversial coverage of the 2020 presidential elections, though CEO Christopher Ruddy has maintained Newsmax is “an independent news agency” – and, like the first lady, said cancer research is one area that all Americans can agree on.
"There are things Americans disagree with, but fighting cancer is one thing that unites Americans; and we're honored to have Dr. Biden talk of her efforts and President Biden's to combat this deadly condition," Ruddy said in a statement ahead of the interview.
Both the president and first lady have deeply personal connections to ending cancer. President Joe Biden's son, Beau Biden, who the first lady raised, died from brain cancer in 2015. The first lady’s own interest in cancer research dates to the 1990s, when four of her friends were diagnosed with breast cancer in the same year. Her parents also died of cancer.
"Back in 1993, four of my friends got breast cancer at the exact same time. And I thought, 'oh my gosh, what can I do?'" Dr. Biden recalled, adding that one of her friends passed away following the diagnosis.
"And so I developed a program called the Biden Breast Health Initiative and we went into every school in the state of Delaware, and we talked to young girls about the importance of good health, good breast health," she continued. "We took breast models so that they could feel what a lump could feel like, we talked to them about, you know, not smoking, really healthy lifestyles."
Dr. Biden also spoke to the Moonshot initiative, having undertaken a number of efforts during her time in the White House to support cancer survivors and further research into the disease that killed over half a million Americans in 2020 alone. Cancer is the second leading cause of death in the United States after heart disease.
"I think when we lost our son to cancer and I think through finding purpose, which was our Cancer Moonshot, that it helped me and it helped Joe sort of go on," Dr. Biden said of the Cancer Moonshot Initiative. "And so we decided that we didn't want other families to go through what we had gone through and Joe continued the Cancer Moonshot then when he became president."
In July, the first lady joined members of the Cancer Moonshot Initiative and other administration officials for a closed-door meeting to better outline priority actions for the effort.
The newy-reignited initiative focuses on:
Closing the screening gap by creating targeted programs to expand nationwide access for early cancer detection
Working to understand and mitigate how toxic environmental exposures contribute to cancer diagnoses
Decreasing the amount of preventable cancers through public health education and outreach campaigns
Investing and supporting research and development to prevent, detect and treat all forms of cancer
Easing the burden on cancer patients and their caregivers by expanding access to treatments, screenings, trials and quality care
More recently, Dr. Biden visited UC San Francisco to hear about the progress made in breast cancer research over the past six years. Dr. Alan Ashworth, president of the UCSF Helen Diller Family Comprehensive Cancer Center, told the first lady of the importance in genetic testing for breast cancer patients, as there have been many advances in how doctors can now identify specific types of cancer and better treat the patients.
“I love what you are doing here,” Biden told those working at the facility during her early October visit. “You have great hearts.”
The first lady also spent this past weekend focusing on cancer-related issues across a number of states, first joining Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, D-Fla., in Broward County for a discussion “focused on breast cancer survivorship,” per the White House, both as part of the Cancer Moonshot Initiative and a nod to Breast Cancer Awareness Month in October.
“None of us can beat cancer alone,” Dr. Biden told those assembled on Saturday. “We survive with the love of our families, the dedication of our doctors and nurses, and the support of communities, like this one, that are coming together to fight this disease.”
The event also came ahead of National Mammography Day, celebrated the third Friday of October, and the first lady reminded busy mothers that mammograms “can save your life—and nothing on your to-do list is more important than that!”
The American Cancer Society estimates around 287,850 new cases of breast cancer will be detected in U.S. women throughout 2022, and around 43,250 will die from breast cancer. Over 90% of breast cancer deaths are in women aged 50 years and older.
On Sunday, the first lady joined cancer survivors and their loved ones at the Dallas Cowboys-Philadelphia Eagles game to sing “Fly Eagles Fly,” the latter team’s fight song, during the National Football League’s Crucial Catch game, a partnership with the American Cancer Society that aims to “fight cancer through early detection and risk reduction.”
It was the second time in as many months Dr. Biden traveled to Philadelphia to raise awareness for cancer; in September, the first lady joined the Phillies’ sixth annual "Childhood Cancer Awareness Night” to support young cancer patients and their families.
Dr. Biden on Sunday evening also shared a video of the White House illuminated in pink lights “in honor of the loved ones we’ve lost, those who are still fighting, and those who have survived breast cancer.”
In her Newsmax interview Dr. Biden also told Brinker, who served as U.S. ambassador to Hungary from 2001 - 2003, about her meetings with Ukraine's first lady Olena Zelenska, the most recent of which took place at the White House in July. Dr. Biden praised Zelenska's "demeanor" under such harsh circumstances as the country endures months of Russia's prolonged war.
"She said to me through an interpreter, you know, 'the people of my country need mental help,'" the first lady recalled. "And she said the children have seen such horrible things that have happened, their schools bombed, their homes bombed, living in shelters. [...] I went to a shelter and met with some of the mothers who were there because of course, the men were all fighting the war."
Russia first invaded Ukraine in late February of this year. In the nearly eight months of war, at least 396 children have been killed and another 714 injured, per the United Nations, though the actual tolls are likely much higher.