The National Cancer Institute estimates that 73,870 people in the United States will be diagnosed with melanoma this year and 9,940 will die. “I’ll do what the doctors recommend for me to extend my life as much as possible”, Carter said, adding that he had already taken medication intravenously on Wednesday. “The only drug available at that time was so toxic that no one would give it to someone his age”. He said he would begin radiation treatment Thursday afternoon. Dr. Aires says President Carter, being a fair-skinned southerner who farmed, likely was at higher risk.
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He appeared at the news conference in a dark blazer, red tie and jeans and was surrounded by friends and family.
Carter, born in 1924, served as the 39th U.S. president from 1977 to 1981.
After losing re-election to Republican Ronald Reagan, he went on to champion wide-ranging global humanitarian efforts.
Improvements in melanoma treatment over the last five years may aid former President Jimmy Carter’s battle against the disease. The center, based in Atlanta, launched a new phase of Carter’s public life that would earn him a Nobel Peace Prize in 2002.
Earlier this month, doctors at Emory removed a small mass from his liver. The cancer spots on his brain are about two millimetres in size.
That has always been the Carter way: talking directly about whatever the issue was, and in this case, his health.
“Most if not all melanomas really are skin cancers”, Agus explained. He says the treatment was trying.
Physically, Mr Carter said he feels well and does not suffer from weakness or pain. “So when they said that they wanted to go ahead and find out other places that might show up cancer and treat them, I’m perfectly at ease with that”, he said. But there were no tears, just talk of “a new kind of adventure” as he fights cancer with the help of a new drug.
Mr. Carter will undergo a type of radiation that targets a small area.
“For a number of years, Rosalynn and I we had planned to dramatically reducing our work at the center, but we haven’t done it yet”, Carter said with a chuckle.
Hi treatment plans include months of radiation at Emory University in Atlanta. He cut short an election monitoring trip to Guyana in May.
A skin cancer is not unlikely considering that Carter lives in the South, is fair-skinned and freckled, and through Habitat for Humanity and travel, has spent a lot of time outdoors – all known risks for melanoma, Pavlick said. “So that’s what I’m going to have to consider”, Carter told reporters. During that surgery, Carter said, doctors suspected that the cancer had originated in another part of his body, and performed full-body scans.
When CBS News Senior White House Correspondent Bill Plante asked the former president whether he considered foregoing treatment, and whether he’s leaned on his Christian faith in the wake of his diagnosis.
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Carter’s demeanor during the press conference was upbeat, if not resigned, when discussing his diagnosis.
