Far from Washington’s political turmoil over a nuclear deal with Iran, former U.S. President Jimmy Carter has spent this summer in his beloved hometown of Plains, Georgia, grappling with a cancer diagnosis that has spread from his liver to his brain. He plans to teach Sunday School at his church, as he often does. However, there are now cases where patients who are treated with targeted radiation to the brain live for years. He will have that treatment three more times at three-week intervals, and there could be other radiation treatments, if needed.
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I happen to have always been a strong supporter of President Carter, and as his Presidential years turned into now-34 post-Presidential years, President Carter has proven to be one of our nations and worlds most outstanding and respected leaders – unless one’s criteria for success is taking the nation into war, something Jimmy Carter never did, truly a badge of honor. As much as he’s able, Carter says he’ll also continue teaching at Emory University in Atlanta and raising money for the Carter Center.
Stage IV melanoma is a kind of cancer that starts in the cells that produce the pigment that gives your skin its color, known as melanocytes.
This aggressive mix of treatments, treatments Carter’s oncologist characterized as “the vanguard of cancer treatment”, may have a positive impact, but positive impact does have its limitations.
Carter warned members of Congress in January 1980 that any rescue effort “would nearly certainly end in failure”. At that time the Carter Center, his nonprofit organization, released a statement saying “the prognosis is excellent for a full recovery”. “He wants to be proactive, he has a lot to live for, and what we offered him is a regimen a man in good health his age can handle”.
“We’re not looking for a cure in patients who have a disease like melanoma that has spread”, Curran said.
“I just thought I had a few weeks left, but I was surprisingly at ease”.
“I’ve had a wonderful life”, Carter reflected. I have, and have read, most of his many books.
Carter’s demeanor during the press conference was upbeat, if not resigned, when discussing his diagnosis. Doctors found a spot on his liver during a follow-up exam, and recommended its removal after a scan.
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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He said the path toward his cancer diagnosis began in late May, when he departed an election monitoring trip to Guyana early because of a bad cold. His “plainspoken” nature helped Democrats retake the White House in 1976.
