Jimmy Carter to Be Treated for Brain Cancer

Former President Jimmy Carter said on Thursday that his cancer has spread to his brain and he will start radiation treatment for it later in the day, adding that his fate was “in the hands of G-d.”

Carter, 90, held a news conference on his condition barely a week after announcing he had undergone surgery for liver cancer.

The former president said he will cut back dramatically on his schedule to receive treatment every three weeks after doctors detected four “very small spots” of melanoma on his brain.

Carter served as president from 1977 to 1981.

His one term in the White House was defined by national economic struggles and the Iran hostage crisis.

Asked on Thursday if he had any regrets, Carter said he wished he had sent one more helicopter in the failed attempt to rescue the Iran hostages, adding that he would have been re-elected had the effort succeeded. Ronald Reagan defeated Carter in the 1980 presidential race.

In a break from tradition, Carter chose to deliver the news about his illness to the media himself. Earlier this month, doctors removed about one tenth of his liver.

A biopsy revealed it was a melanoma, a form of skin cancer that is believed to have originated elsewhere in his body and spread to the liver, he explained.

His doctors were consulting with other cancer experts, and he said he did not currently feel any weakness or disability.

This article appeared in print on page 3 of the August 21st, 2015 edition of Hamodia.