Former President Jimmy Carter announced he has melanoma cancer that metastasized to his brain and that he would begin radiation treatments immediately.
Carter, who is 90, said that he had four melanoma spots on his brain and that another cancerous mass had been removed from his liver during a procedure on Aug. 3. He gave details about his condition, during a news conference at the Carter Center in Atlanta.
"I'm perfectly at ease with whatever comes," Mr. Carter said. "I do have a deep religious faith, which I'm very grateful for." Carter is known for having an abiding Christian faith. Even though he said he will reduce his public schedule during his treatment, he intends to teach Sunday School this weekend at his Baptist Church in Plains, GA.
He acknowledged, however, that he would die within weeks when he was first told that the cancer had spread to his brain.
Hi treatment plans include months of radiation at Emory University in Atlanta. He is scheduled for four radiation treatments at three-week intervals, along with another treatment that will be given intravenously. Carter said he would cut back on his schedule of work at the Carter Center, his nonprofit foundation. But he said he still hoped to travel to Nepal in November to work with Habitat for Humanity, an organization he strongly supports.
Carter caught a cold while traveling in Guyana this spring. During treatment for the cold, his doctors found a mass on his liver that they believed was cancerous, but surgery was delayed because Mr. Carter was scheduled to begin a book tour.
As yet, he has not been too uncomfortable, Carter told reporters. He also said that the cancer had not spread to his pancreas. His father and three siblings all died of pancreatic malignancies.
The Carter Center is active in both issues around world peace and conflict mediation and in promoting world health.
