ATLANTA, Sept. 16 (UPI) — Former President Jimmy Carter revealed he recently underwent the second of four planned cancer treatments with no ill effects.
“We’ll know what the positive effects are later on,” he told an audience of 450 in the chapel of Atlanta’s Carter Center, the same location he used to announce his cancer treatment a month ago. Carter, 90, is being treated with a newly-approved drug, Keytruda, to combat four spots of melanoma on his brain, found after a cancerous mass was removed Aug. 12 from his liver.
He added the most challenging aspect of his treatment was the large amount of liquids doctors have directed he take.
“Instead of getting productive work done, I spend a lot of time in the restroom,” he joked.
With his wife Rosalynn by his side, his medical progress occupied about five minutes of the hour-long discussion, an annual tradition at the research center he founded 30 years ago. He spoke mainly of the efforts of the Carter Center to promote international peace and public health, citing election monitoring and the center’s involvement in the near-eradication of guinea worm disease.
Only 11 cases of the disease are known internationally, prompting Carter to comment, “I hope I’m living longer than the last guinea worm.”
Taking questions, he reiterated his support for the Iran-U.S. nuclear agreement, and urged U.S. officials to involve Russia and Iran in ending the Syrian conflict.
