PROVIDENCE, R.I. -- Vice President Joseph Biden has canceled plans to visit Rhode Island Thursday and will remain instead in Houston with his son, Beau, who is undergoing tests at a cancer treatment center.
The vice president had been scheduled to headline a Democratic National Committee fundraiser in Newport on Thursday afternoon and then speak at a celebration honoring the lifetime service of Nuala Pell, widow of the late U.S. Sen. Claiborne Pell.
But the visit has been canceled, said Christian Vareika, son of Alison and Bill Vareika, who were going to host the fundraiser at their Newport home.
Biden instead will stay with his son, who is hospitalized at the University of Texas Anderson Cancer Center in Houston.
Beau Biden, 44, suffered a mild stroke in 2010. Last week, he complained of feeling weak and disoriented, according to published reports. He traveled to the Texas cancer center after seeing his own doctor in Delaware, where he is attorney general.
U.S. Sen. Jack Reed will speak in place of Biden at the ceremony for Nuala Pell, said Matt Boxler, a spokesman for Salve Regina University, where the ceremony will be held.