Former US president Carter says cancer has spread to brain

At a press conference on Thursday, former President Jimmy Carter discussed his biggest accomplishments and regrets in light of his cancer which he announced has spread to his brain.

“I’ve had an exciting, adventurous, gratifying existence”, Carter, 90, said during a televised Thursday morning news conference at the Carter Center in Atlanta. His cancer came to light after he underwent a surgery to remove a “small mass” from his liver.

Mr Carter said he had only slight pain and would begin radiation therapy immediately on four “very small spots” of melanoma.

Carter said he will receive his first radiation treatment Thursday, for a total of four treatments scheduled in three-week intervals.

“I feel good. I haven’t felt any weakness or debility”, he said. “I’ll be prepared for anything that comes”, said Carter, the 39th president of the United States from 1977 to 1981, during which he also visited India.

Carter said he does have deep religious faith, and was pleasantly surprised that he didn’t go into an attitude of despair or anger or anything like that.

“The best thing I ever did was marry Rosa”, Carter said. “It tends to be more resistant to conventional treatments such as lower doses of radiation and traditional chemotherapy”, he said.

A skin cancer is not unlikely considering that Carter lives in the South, is fair-skinned and freckled, and through Habitat for Humanity and travel, has spent a lot of time outdoors – all known risks for melanoma, Pavlick said.

Carter delayed the liver surgery to August so he could complete a 15-city book tour, based on assurances from his doctors that the tumor would grow slowly.

The peanut farmer-turned-president, whose four years in office were marred by an energy shortage and the Iranian hostage crisis, has redefined what it means to be a former president. He founded Carter Center in 1982 and became a humanitarian.

President Carter’s family has a history of cancer, although that probably doesn’t mean much in a person of his age.

“It’s in God’s hands now, ” he said of his dire prognosis, adding that in recent days he’s considered the stark realization that he might have only weeks to live.

His father, both his sisters and his brother all died from he disease while his mother had pancreatic cancer as well. He will also continue doing some work with the Carter Center, which is something he had spoken about scaling back on since his 80 birthday 11 years ago, according to the National Journal. The center, based in Atlanta, launched a new phase of Carter’s public life that would earn him a Nobel Peace Prize in 2002.

President Carter said he and his wife, Rosalynn, will be cutting back their involvement at Emory and the Carter Center dramatically moving forward.

In 2014, Carter said that he could’ve “wiped Iran off the map”, but instead opted for a helicopter rescue mission that failed.

Carter was seen in his hometown of Plains, Georgia, Sunday at his church, where he speaks regularly and leads bible study.