Former President Jimmy Carter is responding well to treatments for a cancer that has spread to the brain, and recent tests have shown there is no evidence of new malignancy, the Atlanta-based Carter Center said Tuesday in a statement.
Carter, 91, announced in August that he has been diagnosed with melanoma, a skin cancer that has progressed to his brain and liver. Doctors have discovered four small spots of melanoma on his brain but have told Carter they are treatable.
The Carter Center said the doctors at Emory University's Winship Cancer Institute will follow up with further tests.
The former president has hardly slowed his pace since the cancer diagnosis. He had planned to be in Nepal in October for a Habitat for Humanity build, but after civil unrest threatened the project, he instead traveled to Memphis for his 32nd annual construction work for the charity.
He said at that build in Memphis that he hasn't changed his diet since becoming ill, and that he and his wife Rosalynn still keep up an active routine of riding bikes, hiking in the woods and swimming in their hometown in Plains.
He said he’s lost about five pounds, explaining, “I don’t eat as much as I was, but I definitely eat as much as I want.”
Still, he has showed signs of scaling down his work since the diagnosis. His grandson, former state Sen. Jason Carter, took over as chairman of the Carter Center's board and led a trip this week to Myanmar to monitor the nation's historic elections.
Here's the full statement from the Carter Center:
They tell him that recent tests have shown there is no evidence of new malignancy, and his original problem is responding well to treatment. Further tests will continue.
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