Joe Biden Movingly Comforts Meghan McCain Over Father's Brain Cancer, Same as Killed Biden's Son: 'There Is Hope'
Meghan McCain and Joe Biden may come from different political parties, but they were on the same side Wednesday.
The former vice president appeared on The View Wednesday and consoled the co-host, whose father John McCain was diagnosed with same cancer that took the life of his late son, Beau.
As Meghan became emotional talking about her father’s diagnosis of stage 4 glioblastoma, a rare and highly aggressive form of brain cancer that has a median survival rate of 14 months, Biden switched seats so he could hold her hand and comfort her.
Biden spoke about how his son was friends with the Arizona senator, and how the advances in medicine are progressing every day.
“There’s a lot of things happening. Any of you who have somebody who is diagnosed with gliobastoma, which is about as bad as it gets, there’s breakthroughs that are occurring now,” he said. “And it can happen tomorrow.”
The Delaware native spoke about new ways to fight cancer, such as reinforcing immune system cells to find and fight cancer cells. He also noted a new medicine being used to help patients with leukemia.
“There is hope,” he said. “And if anybody can make it, your dad .”
The lifelong Democrat also detailed his close relationship with the maverick Republican, likening their relationship to “two brothers who were somehow raised by different fathers.”
He added that despite their disagreements, they would be there for each other: “I swear, guys, we are going to be beat this damn disease.”
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After being diagnosed in July, Senator McCain told PEOPLE that his daughter marrying Ben Domenech on Nov. 21 at the family’s ranch in Cornville, Arizona, was a dream come true.
“The thing in life you want more than anything else is for your kids to be happy,” he said. “And I’m confident that she will be. It was really a wonderful day.”
In the wake of the diagnosis, Meghan, 33, and Domenech, 35, made the decision to get engaged and quickly plan a wedding.
“This brought into focus how important it was for Meghan to have her dad see her get married, and to have that happen while he was still fully there and fully able to participate,” said Domenech, the founder of the website The Federalist. “This was something that she needed.”
Though McCain said his cancer treatment “is still a fight,” he feels at peace.
“I have been so fortunate to have the life that I have had, full of time and adventure and excitement,” said the Senator, who will continue his work in Washington, D.C., and forge ahead with a planned 2018 memoir.
“I’ve been a small bit of American history, so I think if there’s something on my tombstone, it’ll be ‘He served his country,’ and hopefully you add one word, ‘honorably,’ ” he said. “I’ve made a lot of mistakes. I’ve lost races. I’ve caved in to what seems to be the easy way out and wasn’t. There’s nothing to be sorry for. I have nothing but gratitude for a life fully lived, and you can’t ask for anything more than that. And you can’t deny that I am the luckiest person that you will ever talk to.”