Doctors will continue to scan Carter’s brain and the rest of his body to ensure the disease hasn’t spread, Johnson said.
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Carter was being treated with a cancer drug called Keytruda that uses the immune system to fight off cancerous cells.
A friend and parishioner of Carter’s told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution that the former president made the announcement toward the beginning of the Sunday school class he leads at Maranatha Baptist Church in Plains. ‘The church, everybody here, just erupted in applause’. “If Mr. Carter can do it, I, too, can beat cancer to serve the Filipino people”, Santiago said.
He said that a previous scan showed that the four spots where cancer was identified were responding to the treatment.
Four family members of Carter, including his father, brother and two sisters, died of pancreatic cancer.
Former President Jimmy Carter announced that he is “cancer-free” after undergoing treatment for melanoma, which spread to his liver and his brain.
In a statement, Carter talked about his ongoing medical plan, “I will continue to receive regular 3-week immunotherapy treatments of pembrolizumab”.
Dr. Len Lichtenfeld, deputy chief medical officer for the Atlanta-based American Cancer Society, who stressed he was speaking about cancer in general, told the AJC, however, that the most recent report doesn’t necessarily mean there is no cancer in Carter’s body.
My primary point here is the idea that Carter’s cancer is “gone” is out there now, even in worldwide headlines.
In fact, with the type of drug President Carter is getting, pembrolizumab, in other patients… they see the progression of the disease stopped. It’s what we would call a complete response on imaging, which is really really excellent, obviously. Carter’s grandson James Carter confirmed the good news as well.
“I went to the doctors this week for the second time”, Carter said in a video posted on Twitter by NBC.
According to the National Institutes of Health (NIH), if someone remains in complete remission-meaning all signs and symptoms of cancer are gone-for five or more years, some doctors may say a person has been “cured”.
He said in August that his cancer treatment, which has included radiation, would require him to cut back dramatically on his public schedule.
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“You have heard it was said that you will love your neighbor and hate your enemy, but I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you”, Carter read from the Gospel of Matthew, Grant Blankenship wrote for Georgia Public Broadcasting.
