Carter said he will get two types of treatment – focused radiation to the tumors in his brain and a drug aimed at boosting his immune system.
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The former president says a treatment regimen including radiation and drugs designed to stimulate his body’s auto-immune defense will be a top priority. Doctors believe they got rid of all the cancer there, Carter said.
“He is a very reasonable candidate to receive appropriate treatment, but to ignore his age entirely would be a bad idea”, said Dr. Michael Haas, the head of radiation oncology at McGlinn Cancer Institute, which is part of the Reading Health System.
Now, Mr. Carter, at 90, is faced with a staggering cancer diagnosis, and in what could very well be his darkest personal hour, he is schooling us on how to face the end of life with grace, dignity and spirituality. All three of his siblings died of pancreatic cancer, as did his father, and he lost his mother to breast cancer.
The former president said he’s going to cut back on some of his worldwide humanitarian work. Carter is still planning a trip to visit Nepal later this year for the “Habitat for Humanity” charity which builds shelters for homeless people. The center, based in Atlanta, launched a new phase of Carter’s public life that would earn him a Nobel Peace Prize in 2002.
He thanked well-wishers, including President Obama and predecessors Bill Clinton, George W and George HW Bush, joking it was the “first time they have called in a long time”. “But it could’ve been both”, Carter said. His melanoma is probably related to his light complexion and lots of time spent outdoors, said Jeffrey Schneider, an oncologist at Winthrop-University Hospital in Mineola, New York.
Carter’s acceptance of his prognosis seems to lie in his deep religious belief, and he pledged to continue teaching Sunday school at his church “as long as I’m physically able”.
In a wide-ranging interview last month about his life with Reuters Editor-at-Large Sir Harold Evans, Carter reflected on his childhood in a home without running water or electricity and his concerns about ongoing racial prejudice in the United States.
He chose the Carter Center, because he had more personal contact with those he was trying to help. “I had thousands of friends and an exciting and adventurous, gratifying existence”. After one term beset by economic problems, poor relations with Congress, and a hostage crisis in Iran, Carter lost the 1980 presidential election to Republican Ronald Reagan.
“The best thing I ever did was marrying Rosalynn“, he said of his 88-year-old wife.
At a news conference in Atlanta, the 90-year-old said he has melanoma that was initially discovered in his liver.
The former Democratic president sounded serene and in high spirits as he discussed his illness.
“This is not a eulogy in any way”, said grandson Jason Carter, who is taking over as chairman of the board of trustees at the Carter Center, which promotes peace, democracy and health care improvements around the world.
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This weekend, relatives will gather in his tiny hometown of Plains, Georgia, to celebrate his wife’s 88th birthday.
