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How Former Vice President Joe Biden Learned of His Son Beau's Illness

Season 8
CC | tv-pg
In 2015, then-Vice President Joe Biden's son Beau, who served as the attorney general of Delaware, died of brain cancer. He was 46 years old.

To the Biden family, the diagnosis of Beau's cancer came as a shock. After all, Vice President Biden says, Beau was a decorated war veteran and "the fittest guy in his battalion." Still, Beau dealt with his illness with unwavering strength and grace.

"He'd say, 'Dad, look at me. Stop looking sad. Don't look sad, Dad,'" Vice President Biden tells Oprah during their Super Soul Sunday conversation. "'No matter what happens, I'm going to be all right, Dad. You've got to look happy. You've got to look strong for the family. Dad, the family needs you to look strong.'"

Here, the former vice president opens up about how the family coped with his eldest son's illness, and shares what a "remarkable young man" he was.

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