President Obama Offered Joe Biden Financial Help As Son Fought Cancer

Joe Biden is no stranger to tragedy, and as his son Beau fought brain cancer at 46, President Obama offered the Vice President financial help.

Beau Biden was serving as the Attorney General of Delaware at the time of his diagnosis, following in his father’s political footsteps. According to Yahoo, Vice President Joe Biden talked with CNN about the events following his diagnosis.

“If Beau resigns, there’s nothing to fall back on,” Biden said. “I said, ‘But I worked it out. Jill and I will sell the house. We’ll be in good shape.'”

It was then while Joe Biden and President Obama were eating that Obama cut in.

https://twitter.com/kencampbell66/status/687036196871077888

He said, “Don’t sell that house. Promise me you won’t sell the house. … I’ll give you the money. Whatever you need, I’ll give you the money. Don’t, Joe. Promise me.”

There’s a special bond between these two men that act as an example to Americans and people everywhere. Obviously, Joe Biden was battling with the emotional rigors of losing a son, and he made sure to let Obama know how he was doing every day.

“He was the only guy other than my family I confided [with] all along in everything that was going on with Beau, because I felt a responsibility to do that so that he knew where I was — my thinking,” he said.

Beau was posthumously awarded The Albert Schweitzer Leadership Award in November of 2015, and Obama made sure to emphasize the character of Joe Biden’s son as he gave the eulogy speech during the funeral.

Joe Biden says Obama offered to personally give him money to help out when the vice president's son became sick https://t.co/oEsQkZw7kb

— The New York Times (@nytimes) January 12, 2016

CNN reported on the speech last June, where Obama said “Beau Biden brought to his work a mighty heart, he brought to his family a mighty heart.”

“Beau Biden was an original. He was a good man, a man of character, a man who loved deeply and was loved in return.”

“Joe, you are my brother, and I am grateful every day you have got such a big heart, and a big soul, and those broad shoulders. I could not admire you more,” Obama said as he looked directly at his friend and running partner.

“I’ll never forget the eulogy he delivered for Beau,” Biden said.

Because of his son’s death, Joe Biden decided to not run for president in 2016, even though he very much wanted to.

“There is no timeline for the grieving process,” Biden said last fall. “The process doesn’t respect or much care about things like filing deadlines or debates and primaries and caucuses.”

“As the family and I have worked through the grieving process, I’ve said all along what I’ve said time and again to others: that it may very well be that that process, by the time we get through it, closes the window on mounting a realistic campaign for president. That it might close. I’ve concluded it has closed.”

Tonight, President Obama gives his last state of the union address. It will be a much different speech than most, focusing more on his own legacy and how optimistic he is for the future.

Just checked in with @POTUS … you're not going to want to miss tonight's speech at 9p ET. Should be pretty sweet: https://t.co/5IUcMtBsiP

— Denis McDonough (@Denis44) January 12, 2016

When President Obama leaves the White House this year, it’s a certainty that he and Joe Biden will remain close for the rest of their lives.

[Photo by Win McNamee/Getty Images]