Watch CBS News

Pres. Jimmy Carter Gets Radiation Treatment For Cancer

DENVER (CBS4)- President Jimmy Carter is talking about the cancer that has spread within his body. The former president has a long history in Colorado with one of his charities, Habitat for Humanity, by picking up a hammer and helping build homes for those less fortunate.

"They found there were four spots of melanoma on my brain," said Carter.

The 90-year-old revealed his latest health battle last week saying it was discovered during liver surgery. He will immediately begin radiation treatment.

jimmy carter
Jimmy Carter (credit: CBS)

He said he was calm when he received the diagnosis, "I've had thousands of friends, I've had an exciting, adventurous and gratifying existence. So I was surprisingly at ease, much more so than my wife was. But now I feel it's in the hands of God who I worship and I'll be prepared for anything that comes."

Carter will dramatically cut back on his work with the Carter Center and will give the treatment regimen his "top priority."

Carter has a strong family history of cancer. In his new memoir, "A Full Life" Carter writes that his father, brother and two sisters died from pancreatic cancer.

The former farmer turned president visited the Denver metro area in Oct. 2013 to help build Habitat for Humanity homes.

Carter was joined by his wife, former First Lady Rosalynn Carter, as well as country music superstars Garth Brooks and his wife Trisha Yearwood.

jimmy-carter-habitat
Pres. Jimmy Carter uses a screwdriver to build a Habitat for Humanity home in Denver (credit: CBS)

"If I had my dream I just wish that Habitat would no longer be necessary 30 years from now and that the federal government in all countries and state and local people would take that responsibility as one of the primary goals in life in meeting people's basic human rights," said Carter.

Each year since 1984 the Carters have spent a week working on Habitat projects around the world.

LINK: Habitat for Humanity of Metro Denver

View CBS News In
CBS News App Open
Chrome Safari Continue
Be the first to know
Get browser notifications for breaking news, live events, and exclusive reporting.