Former President Jimmy Carter Has Cancer
Former President Jimmy Carter says he has cancer and will undergo treatment at an Atlanta hospital.
Carter announced the diagnosis in a statement from the Carter Center on Wednesday afternoon.
Carter, 90, had surgery earlier this month to remove a small mass in his liver. He says in Wednesday’s statement that the surgery revealed the cancer.
Carter says he will rearrange his schedule to be treated at Emory Healthcare. He says a more complete public statement will be issued next week when more details are known.
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Dr. Len Lichtenfeld, deputy chief medical officer of the American Cancer Society, says “Our thoughts and prayers go out to President Carter.”
Lichtenfeld says, “There’s a lot we don’t know,” but the first task likely will be determining where the cancer originated, as that can help determine what treatment he may be eligible for. Sometimes the primary site can’t be determined, so genetic analysis of the tumor might be done to see what mutations are driving it and what drugs might target those mutations.
He adds, “Given the president’s age, any treatments, their potential and their impacts, will undoubtedly be discussed carefully with him and his family.”
Carter was the nation’s 39th president. After leaving the White House, he founded the center in Atlanta in 1982 to promote health care, democracy and other issues globally.
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