Published Aug 13, 2021

First Lady Jill Biden, 70, Describes How Her Students Were Pillars of Support During Her Sister’s Cancer Treatment: ‘I Didn’t Realize How Much I Was Struggling’

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Dr. Biden's Touching Moment

First Lady Dr. Jill Biden shared a story about how her students rallied around her in support while her sister was going through cancer treatments.
Dr. Biden has dedicated years to her life towards cancer research, as she’s dealt with losing loved ones from the disease.
A support system can help both those battling cancer and people watching loved ones battle the disease. Feeling supported is crucial when going through difficult times.

First Lady Dr. Jill Biden, 70, just recently shared a touching story which shows the power of support during difficult times. When Dr. Biden’s sister was going through cancer treatment, she broke the news to the students she was teaching at the time. They gave her the support she never knew she needed.

In a recent interview with Good Housekeeping, Dr. Biden shared that when her sister was going through cancer treatments, she decided to break the news to the class she was teaching at the time since she would need to take some time off to help her sister through the process. While sharing the information, Dr. Biden tried to hold her emotions together and fight back tears.

“I tried to explain with as much composure as I could muster, but the words caught in my throat,” Dr. Biden explained. “I turned to face the whiteboard, hoping to hold back my emotions. When I turned back around, the entire class was standing. They lined up and gave me a hug, one by one.”

Seeing her students react to the news that way served as a revelation for Dr. Biden. At the time, she didn’t realize how much she needed the support, and was thankful to her students for their kindness. “Until that moment, I didn’t realize how much I was struggling, or how much I needed their strength. I recognized then that this community of students was my family too.”

Dr. Biden has been in the education field for decades, and currently works with community college students. Despite her duties in the White House’s East Wing, she still takes time to work in education. While Dr. Biden has said that each moment is rewarding in her profession, that particular moment with her students made her realize how powerful the bond between a student and teacher can be.

Dr. Biden has dedicated years of her life towards cancer research, as she’s dealt with losing loved ones from the disease. Both of her parents died from cancer, and she and husband Joe, 78, have experienced the hardest loss imaginable when they lost their son, Beau Biden (Jill's step-son she raised since he was young), to brain cancer in 2015 at 46 years old.

Support Means Everything

Whether you’re going through cancer, or watching a loved one battle the disease, support can be a resource that helps you tremendously. By feeling supported, this helps emotional health tremendously which can make a huge difference in both treatment outcomes and coping with a roller coaster of emotions. Even though Dr. Biden’s moment with her students may seem small to some, it can be experience like that which can make a huge difference.

Support can come in many forms, but one resource that can be extremely helpful is by utilizing support networks. These can include friends, family, spouses, and even faith communities. Have a solid support system in place makes the cancer journey more manageable and also can be a good way for loved ones to cope with going through the process as well.

Ovarian cancer survivor Kelly Sargent told SurvivorNet in an previous interview how helpful her support group has been, saying, "I have an incredible set of friends that I met after my diagnosis through a Bible study group that have become very, very close friends of mine that are an incredible part of my support system. That support from those ladies has been life-changing for me. I can't imagine going through it someplace else."

The Benefit of Support Networks for Cancer Patients

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