Jimmy Carter’s Cancer in Remission

Former President Jimmy Carter says his latest scans show no signs of cancer.

The 91-year-old broke the news four months ago that cancer had spread to his brain. “There are still many patients with melanoma who don’t have this outcome”, said Lichtenfeld.

The former President says he will continue to receive regular doses of immunotherapy treatments. The Merck & Co. drug was approved last fall for treating melanoma. “He’s not going to stop doing the treatment, but at this point, there’s no cancer”.

“So a lot of people prayed for me, and I appreciate that”, Carter said.

According to experts, the way in which the melanoma treatment process has evolved and advanced over recent years has brought about an entirely new era in both treatment methodology and the realistic prospect of outstanding recoveries.

Dr. Leonard Saltz, an oncologist at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in NY, is on the record with his concerns about skyrocketing costs for miracle drugs.

The treatment regimen started with surgically removing the cancerous tumor from the liver, which was followed by radiation treatment. They also cause fewer side effects, unlike the nausea or hair loss often caused by chemotherapy which targets all swiftly growing cells like those in the stomach lining.

“I’ve had a wonderful life”, he said.

Not seeing any cancer on imaging tests is promising, but a physician can not be 100% certain that means a cancer will not return. “That’s awesome progress in a short period of time”. Flaherty is not involved in Carter’s treatment. “I haven’t been uncomfortable or ill after the treatments were over”. “So that part of it has been a relief to me and I think to the doctors”. However, immunotherapy, which Carter has been receiving since August, is different.

The doctors had found four lesions in his brain.

But his post-presidential career has been a storied one, including the founding of the Carter Center, charitable work for the Christian nonprofit Habitat for Humanity and several diplomatic missions.

“If (a patient) breaks the right way, the likelihood that he will do well in the short term is extremely high”, Flaherty said.