On Thursday morning, former President Jimmy Carter revealed he will begin radiation treatment for four spots of melanoma that were detected on his brain. He will start the first round of four radiation treatments this afternoon.
Carter made the announcement at a scheduled news conference at the Carter Center in Atlanta. Speaking to reporters, he said that even though he initially thought he only had a few weeks left to live, he was “surprisingly at ease” with his diagnosis.
“I’ve had a wonderful life,” Carter added. “I’ve had a wonderful life, thousands of friends. I’ve had an exciting and adventurous and gratifying existence. But now I feel that it’s in the hands of the God, whom I worship.”
Carter said doctors first discovered the lesions when he underwent surgery to remove a small mass in his liver earlier this month.
When asked if there was anything in his life he wish he could have done differently, Carter expressed regret over the Iran hostage crisis.
“I wish I had sent one more helicopter to get the hostages and we would have rescued them,” he said. Then in a lighthearted joke, Carter added, “Maybe I would have been reelected.”
The 90-year-old former president first revealed he had cancer last Wednesday.
