Jimmy Carter: Latest brain scan shows no cancer

Three days after the announcement, Carter was teaching Sunday school per his usual routine.

Former President Jimmy Carter announced Sunday that his brain cancer is in remission after doctors were unable to locate cancerous matter during a recent MRI after using a new cancer drug called Pembrolizumab.

“Carter has said he experienced no side effects during treatment, a positive sign for his doctors, said Dr. Keith Flaherty, a melanoma specialist at Massachusetts General Hospital’s Termeer Center for Targeted Therapies who is not involved in Carter’s treatment”. The crowd applauded and the place suddenly became jubilant.

The 39th president disclosed in August that he had been diagnosed with melanoma, a cancer that is normally found on the skin but in rare cases can affect internal organs.

“And when I went this week, they didn’t find any cancer at all”, he told those in attendance at the Sunday service, prompting rapturous applause and delighted cheers. The former president said in a statement that he will continue to receive doses of Keytruda, a recently approved auto-immune drug to help his body seek out cancer cells in his body. The immunotherapy is manufactured by Merck & Co under the brand name Keytruda. Usually by two or three months of treatment a doctor can look to see how a person’s cancer is responding. Immunotherapy, however, typically prolongs the life of cancer patients by about 1.5 years on the average.

A lot has been surprised by this news – in fact, not even one of Carter’s friends had an idea how to handle the news.

Carter has remained active during treatment, volunteering on a building project with Habitat for Humanity and continuing to work at The Carter Center, the human-rights organization he founded after leaving the White House.

Carter, who said after his diagnosis last summer that his fate was “in the hands of God”, has defied expectations before.