Biden calls teen battling cancer on FaceTime

Former Vice President Joe Biden offered encouragement Tuesday night to an Idaho teenager with cancer when the two spoke on FaceTime. 

Cierra Shaffer, 17, is undergoing treatment for leukemia at St. Luke’s Health in Boise, Idaho. Shaffer hoped to meet Biden, and her nurses wrote to the former vice president asking if he could attend her high school graduation, The Idaho Press-Tribune reported.

While he was unable to meet her in person, Biden surprised Shaffer with a 15-minute FaceTime call on Tuesday night.

{mosads}“You’re going to beat this thing,” he told her. “Because you’ve got to come and see me in Washington. I’ve got to show you around. And then you’ve got to invite me back to Idaho, one of the most beautiful states in America.”

Cierra, you remembered the most important thing I had to say. You will beat this.

And as I’ve always said, if there are any angels in heaven, they are nurses. You’ve got a great team of them there making sure you stay #cierrastrong. https://t.co/6q8DPaBpXF

— Joe Biden (@JoeBiden) March 28, 2018

Shaffer told her nurses that Biden is her favorite vice president because “he loves ice cream, he’s a man’s man” and “he does all this cancer initiative stuff.”

Biden and his wife, Jill, have been staunch supporters of cancer research. The two launched the Biden Cancer Initiative last June. 

Their son, Beau, died of brain cancer in 2015.

Biden has said his son’s death factored into his decision not to run for president in 2016.

He is weighing a possible White House bid in 2020, but has said he has not made a final decision.