Jimmy Carter’s grandson says latest scan shows no cancer

Jimmy Carter stood at the front of his beloved church in Plains on Sunday with some news for the 350 Sunday school students packing the pews: His most recent brain scan was clean.

Carter said he plans to continue with his tri-weekly immunotherapy treatments. For this, he received four rounds of radiation in an effort to “control” his cancer, making him a candidate for Merck & Co’s Keytruda (pembrolizumab).

“President Carter has received good news from his Winship Cancer Institute doctors”.

The news site quoted a close friend and fellow church member at Maranatha Baptist Church in Plains, Ga., as saying that he made the statement at the start of the 300-man class.

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

“I have had a wonderful life”, Carter said with the same unsparing honesty and meticulous detail that marked his presidency.

“So a lot of people prayed for me, and I appreciate that”, he continued, as Carter was met with a loud applause. The melanoma was discovered after surgery on his liver revealed he had cancer in other parts of his body. Carter announced in late August that he was battling melanoma.

Antoni Ribas, a researcher at UCLA and the lead investigator of a crucial clinical trial of Keytruda, said in an interview Sunday that he was glad to hear of Carter’s apparent response but not surprised.

“I realized he was mortal”, he said back then.

Carter has also emerged in recent years as an outspoken critic of Israel for its oppression and brutality against the Palestinian people. “But the final result of how well the treatments are combatting or controlling the cancer, we don’t know yet”.

Born in 1924, Carter served as the 39th USA president from 1977 to 1981.

Carter was awarded the Nobel Peace prize in 2002 for his commitment to finding peaceful solutions to worldwide conflicts and his work for human rights and the promotion of democracy.