Jimmy Carter reveals cancer has spread to his brain

Former President Jimmy Carter announced Thursday that his cancer is on four small spots on his brain and he will immediately begin radiation treatment.

On learning that the cancer had spread beyond his liver, Carter said, “I just thought I had a few weeks left, but I was surprisingly at ease. I’ve had a wonderful life.”

Carter, appearing in a dark blazer, red tie and jeans and surrounded by friends and family, said at first he thought that the cancer was confined to his liver and that an operation earlier this month completely removed it.So far, the pain has been “very slight,” Carter said, and he hasn’t experienced any weakness or debility. Still, he will cut back on his work with the Carter Center and will give the treatment regimen his “top priority.” His first radiation treatment was set for Thursday afternoon.

But that afternoon an MRI showed it was on his brain.

Carter didn’t give any prognosis but spoke about receiving treatments for at least several months and left open the possibility of traveling to Nepal in November.

The Carter Center announced that he had a small mass removed from his liver Aug. 3. He announced Aug. 12 that surgery found cancer that has spread to other parts of his body. Doctors removed about a tenth of his liver during the surgery, he said. He said it’s still not clear exactly where the cancer originated.

“So far, the only place they’ve known about cancer has been my liver and my brain,” he said.

His father, brother and two sisters died of pancreatic cancer. His mother died of breast cancer that spread to other organs. Carter said no cancer has been found on his pancreas.

Carter said that George W. Bush and George H.W. Bush called him Wednesday and that he has received well wishes from President Barack Obama, Bill Clinton, Hillary Clinton and Secretary of State John Kerry.

That’s “the first time they’ve called me in a long time,” Carter said to laughter.

His health has been closely watched this year. He cut short an election monitoring trip to Guyana in May; a spokeswoman said he did not feel well, and he later said he had a bad cold.

Carter was the nation’s 39th president, advancing as a virtual unknown on the national stage to defeat the incumbent, Gerald Ford, in 1976. But several foreign policy crises, in particular the Iran hostage crisis, crushed his bid for re-election, and Ronald Reagan swept into the White House.

A native of tiny Plains, Georgia, he rebuilt his career as a humanitarian, establishing the Carter Center, focused on global issues, including health care and democracy. He was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2002, helped defuse nuclear tensions in the Koreas and helped avert a U.S. invasion of Haiti.

He and his wife, Rosalynn Carter, still make regular appearances at events in Atlanta and travel overseas. When he is in Plains, Jimmy Carter frequently teaches a Sunday school class before services at Maranatha Baptist Church. He plans to teach this weekend as scheduled, according to the church.

“No matter where we are in the world, we’re always looking forward to getting home to Plains,” Carter said.

Source: Al Jazeera