Biden’s press secretary diagnosed with cancer

Joe Biden‘s campaign press secretary TJ Ducklo has been diagnosed with metastatic lung cancer, Ducklo announced on Twitter Saturday. Ducklo said that he would continue working for Biden’s campaign throughout his treatment.

“Some upsetting news to share & explanation for why I’ve been MIA recently: after a bunch of tests, I’ve been diagnosed w/ metastatic lung cancer. Which sucks a lot. I’m starting treatment Monday, & my doctors — who have been incredible — believe we can get this into remission,” Ducklo tweeted.

“It was never a question whether I’d continue working during treatment — working for Joe Biden and this campaign has been the best, most important experience of my life,” Ducklo wrote. “My team is like family to me, and I’m not letting *anything* keep me from helping them make Joe Biden the next president. The VP has said for a while now he will be the president to cure cancer as we know it. Sounds pretty f—ing good to me.”

Biden’s eldest son, Beau, died in 2015 of glioblastoma, a type of brain cancer. Senators John McCain and Ted Kennedy also died from glioblastoma. 

After Beau’s death, Biden made funding research to eliminate cancer a priority during his remaining time as vice president. Biden has also made it a central priority for his campaign.