Former American President Jimmy Carter announced Thursday that his cancer is on four small spots on his brain and he will immediately begin radiation treatment.
On learning that the cancer had spread beyond his liver, Carter said, “I just thought I had a few weeks left, but I was surprisingly at ease. I’ve had a wonderful life.”
So far, the pain has been “very slight,” Carter said, and he hasn’t experienced any weakness or debility. Still, he will cut back on his work with the Carter Center and will give the treatment regimen his “top priority.” His first radiation treatment was set for Thursday afternoon.
Carter, appearing in a dark blazer, red tie and jeans and surrounded by friends and family, said at first he thought that the cancer was confined to his liver and that an operation earlier this month completely removed it.
But that afternoon an MRI showed it was on his brain.
Carter didn’t give any prognosis but spoke about receiving treatments for at least several months and left open the possibility of traveling to Nepal in November.
The Carter Center announced that he had a small mass removed from his liver Aug. 3. He announced Aug. 12 that surgery found cancer that has spread to other parts of his body. Doctors removed about a tenth of his liver during the surgery, he said. He said it’s still not clear exactly where the cancer originated.
“So far, the only place they’ve known about cancer has been my liver and my brain,” he said.
His father, brother and two sisters died of pancreatic cancer. His mother died of breast cancer that spread to other organs. Carter said no cancer has been found on his pancreas.
