As Biden battles COVID, some health issues of past US presidents were kept hidden from public

As President Biden, who is 79 years old, recovers from his recent diagnosis of COVID-19, some Americans may wonder about some of the other illnesses that previous U.S. presidents battled over the years — many of which were kept hidden from the public.

But first, a little more about Biden's health conditions.

The president recently said during a speech that he has "cancer and … for the longest time, Delaware had the highest cancer rate in the nation."

That comment sparked enormous confusion and discussion.

In a November 2021 memo summarizing Biden’s health, Dr. Kevin O’Connor, Biden’s physician for more than a decade, acknowledged that Biden had "several localized, non-melanoma skin cancers removed with Mohs surgery before he started his presidency."

Biden's ambulatory gait "is perceptibly stiffer and less fluid than it was a year or so ago."