“We were very, very surprised”, said Jill Stuckey, who is a member of Maranatha Baptist Church in Plains, Ga., where Carter has taught Sunday school for decades.
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A friend and parishioner of Carter’s told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution the former president made the announcement towards the beginning of the Sunday school class he leads.
When Jimmy Carter announced in August that cancer had been found in his liver and brain, he said he would “do what the doctors recommend” to try and extend his life.
No more cancer spots, an official statement from Carter Center website said.
“So many cancer treatments can be effective in the short-term, causing tumors to shrink”, he said.
What type of cancer was Carter fighting?
“When I went in this week, they did not find any cancer at all, so I have good news”, said the former president to a congregation of about 350 who followed with applause.
“He said he got a scan this week and the cancer was gone”, she said.
Upon hearing the news, Carter’s grandson, James, said he “knew he wasn’t really human”.
He said he expects Carter’s doctors will continue “close surveillance” for any new cancer growth or recurrence in his brain and continue doses of the immunotherapy drug as long as Carter handles it well. By Aug 20 he confirmed that he has a metastatic melanoma after the doctors discovered four spots on his brain. “So I have good news”.
A quote attributed to Mr. Carter by USA broadcaster.
Carter, elected in 1976 and ousted in the 1980 election by Ronald Reagan, has a family history of pancreatic cancer – a disease that claimed his father, brother and two sisters.
During his treatment, Carter volunteered on a building project with Habitat for Humanity and was also involved with work at The Carter Center, the human rights organization that he founded after leaving the White House.
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He said he would continue to receive regular doses of pembrolizumab, a new treatment that is part of a promising class of drugs that harness the body’s immune system to fight cancer.
