Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter told a Sunday School class he leads at his church in Georgia that his cancer was gone, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported today.
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A later MRI however revealed that Carter had cancer growths in his brain as well in four places. Only this time, he came away with some good news. Doctors removed the liver tumor and began treatment for the other spots with a new immunotherapy drug.
On average, the immunotherapy treatment extends a recipient’s life expectancy by a year and a half.
Carter said the scan showed no signs of the original cancer “spots” or any new ones. Carter announced in late August that he was battling melanoma.
“Doctors will continue to scan Carter’s brain and the rest of his body to ensure the disease hasn’t spread, Johnson said”.
Carter always starts his lessons with a brief update on his recent activities.
Carter’s grandson, James, tweeted “Victory!” shortly after the announcement.
Carter has said in interviews that he lost about five pounds, but otherwise tolerated the treatments well.
Jason Carter then noted that he took the job as the chair of the Carter Center after his grandfather said his cancer would force him to take a step back from his day-to-day duties.
He received a round of radiation targeted at those tumors and regular doses of Keytruda. “I went running down the hall and got to spread the news”, she said.
October 8: Doctors gave Carter the go-ahead for a Habitat for Humanity build in Nepal, but organizers scrapped the trip due to unrest in the Asian nation.
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Carter smiled as people in the congregation responded with applause. They quickly have become a cornerstone in the treatment of certain cancers, in addition to long-standing approaches such as surgery, radiation and chemotherapy. Dr. Douglas Johnson, a melanoma specialist at Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center, said such a process is repeated every three months in the first year after a clean scan comes up.
