Former President Carter Says He has Cancer

Former president Jimmy Carter discusses his latest book, “A Full Life“, at the Carter Center, Wednesday, July 15, 2015, in Atlanta.

Doctors diagnosed the disease after the 90-year-old statesman underwent an operation.

“Recent liver surgery revealed that I have cancer that now is in other parts of my body”, Carter wrote in a statement posted on his official site.

The Carter Center in Atlanta said last week that he had undergone elective surgery at Emory University Hospital to remove a small mass in his liver.

His brother Billy, and sisters Ruth and Gloria all died of pancreatic cancer, along with his parents James Earl Carter Sr. and Lillian Gordy Carter.

Carter, a Democrat, served as the 39th president from 1977 to 1981 after defeating Republican incumbent Gerald Ford. But the mission failed leaving eight American servicemen dead. A number of foreign policy conflicts doomed his bid for a second term, and Carter lost to Ronald Reagan in a landslide.

Father-of-four Mr Carter has been married to wife Rosalynn for 69 years.

“Our thoughts and prayers go out to President Carter”, said Dr. Len Lichtenfeld, deputy chief medical officer of the American Cancer Society. After his time in office, he founded the Carter Center and became an advocate for worldwide peace, democracy and human rights.