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Former President Jimmy Carter Discusses Cancer Diagnosis. Aired 10-10:30a ET

Aired August 20, 2015 - 10:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

[10:00:00] DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: That everything went fine, the prognosis was excellent, but it was just last week, Carol, as you know, that he said there's now evidence that the -- this cancer has spread throughout my body. It's going to affect my schedule, and, Carol, I can tell you, I don't know if you can see this, but the president is walking in now.

CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: I see him.

GUPTA: He's walking by himself, wearing a pair of jeans going over to the podium. Rosalynn Carter right behind him and many members of his staff. So he's very punctual, as I said. There's some pictures of him recently as well you may have seen from last week in church looking very vibrant. He said he's going to teach Sunday school next Sunday as well. So we know where his mindset is a little bit in terms of his activities upcoming but we're now going to hear for the first time exactly what this is that's been ailing him.

COSTELLO: Exactly.

GUPTA: And what he plans to do about it.

COSTELLO: All right. Well, let's pause, Sanjay, to listen to President Carter.

JIMMY CARTER, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: -- to talk to you right now. And to all the folks at the Carter Center, my Emory doctors and literally hundreds of well- wishers who have called in or sent me letters or emails. And I've tried to answer as many of them as I could. I think what I'll do this morning is just outline what's happened so far with my medical condition. And then toward the end, I will give you a brief rundown of what I plan to do in the future, and then I'll answer some questions from the news media.

In May, I went down to Guyana to help monitor an election, and I had a very bad cold. And I left down there and came back to Emory so they could check me over. And in the process, they did a complete physical examination, and the MRI showed that there was a cancer, or growth -- a tumor on my liver. And they did a PET Scan, and that kind of lights up a bad place, and it lit up. So they were pretty sure that there was a cancer before they operated on August the 3rd and removed it.

The tumor was only about two-and-a-half cubic centimeters, but they removed about 85 cubic centimeters, which is about a tenth of my liver, and they did a biopsy and found that it was, indeed, cancer and it was melanoma. And they had a very high suspicion then and now that the melanoma started somewhere else on my body and spread to the -- to the liver. The doctors tell me that about 98 percent of all the melanoma is skin cancer and about 2 percent of the melanomas are internal.

So then I came back up here after that, and they did a biopsy and found that -- they did an MRI and found that there were four spots of melanoma on my brain. They are very small spots, about two millimeters if you can envision what a millimeter is, and I'll get my first radiation treatment for the melanoma in my brain this afternoon. And then I understand I'll have four treatments scheduled at three- week intervals.

In addition to that, yesterday, they treated me with a mask to hold my head perfectly still while the radiation goes in to the right places, and I've (inaudible) prepared for that to take place (ph) this afternoon. In addition, they have given me an IV with 30 minutes of Tempo Lysobat (ph) and this is a medicine that they use for melanoma that enhances the activity of the -- of the anti-immune system. And this is a medicine that's been approved in the United States. There are similar ones that have also been tested in Europe.

My doctors are -- and they will also continue to scan other parts of my body with MRI and CAT Scan and PET Scan to see if and where the melanoma originated, and so that'll be an ongoing examination of my body for the next number of months, I presume, if it -- if it goes on that long.

Dr. Juan Sarmiento is the doctor at Emory that did the surgery on my liver, Dr. David Lawson is a specialist on melanoma and Dr. Curran, who's here, is a specialist on radiation treatment, and he's in charge of the Winstrop Cancer Center. And they're working very closely with other cancer centers around this nation, in particular, MD Anderson Center in Houston, Texas, the National Cancer Institute, Sloan- Kettering and others.

CARTER: I've had a lot of people call and recommend different places, and I referred those offers of help to the doctors to get their acquiescence of approval of what they decided to do in my treatment.

For a number of years, Rose and I have planned on dramatically reducing our work at Carter Center but we have not done it yet. We talked about this when I was 80 when I was 85, we talked about it again I was 90, this is a prodigious time to carry out our long- delayed plans, so I will cut back dramatically on my obligations at Emory, at the Carter Center. As you know, the Carter Center has a full legal partnership with Emory, half of our trustees are selected by Emory, and we approve them and vice versa.

The president of Emory University is on our board of trustees, as are Rose and I. And we have built up a very substantial endowment to tide the Carter Center over when I am no longer able to raise funds. We have no a little over $600 million in our endowment.

But I will continue to sign letters requesting contributions and making key calls to people that might need prospects for funding. So, I will continue with the funding, the trustee meetings at the Carter Center, I will continue attend those. I would also like to schedule the regular meetings with our fellows and directors as they give detailed reports quite regularly, on what we are doing with the fight against Guinea worm (ph) and our peace programs and other health programs, and so forth.

I cannot really anticipate how I will be feeling, obviously. But I will have to differ quite substantially to my doctors in charge of treatment. I understand that they -- the radiation treatments and also the injections, will be every three weeks, for four times, and they will stop and take a look at what the results might have been. And I will try to adhere to that schedule as much as possible. The Carter Center is well prepared to continue on without any handicap, if Rosa and I do back away from a lot of the activities that we have been doing. We have decided last March that our grandson Jason will take over as a chairman of the board, replacing Oz Nelson, which is Oz Nelson's suggestion.

And the board of trustees made that decision March, to be effective at our meeting in November. So, Jason will be the chairman of the board of trustees of the Carter Center, which is the body that makes the ultimate decisions about what projects the Carter Center works on, and budget matters and things of that kind. Of course, if he wants me to give advice, I would be delighted to do it as I have done some other people in the past.

I was chairman for a while, but I step down a number of years ago to give other people a chance to work on it. So, I will try as best I can to continue my work as a professor at Emory, and to attend some of the meetings. But I would say that the rest of my plans would be determined by my consultations with doctors in what I needed to do to get adequate treatment for the melanoma that exists -- at least, has existed in my liver.

They think they got it all, there, but has shown up now in four places in my brain, and it is likely to show up other places in my body as the scans detect it in the future.

So, that's all wanted to say to you, but I will be glad to answer a couple of questions if you have them.

QUESTION: (OFF-MIKE).

Good morning, President Carter. Lorie Gurie (ph), with WSBTV (ph).

Just want to get -- what was your initial reaction, when you heard the c-word, the cancer word, and what doctors have said about your prognosis. You have seem very optimistic, your spirits are very good.

CARTER: Well, at first, I felt that it was confined to my liver, and that they had -- the operation had completely removed it, so I was quite relieved.

And then that same afternoon, we had an MRI of my head and neck and it showed up that it was already in four places in my brain. So I would say that night and the next day until I came back up to Emory, I just thought I had a few weeks left. But I was -- surprisingly, at ease.

CARTER: You know, I've had a wonderful life, I had thousands of friends, and -- and I've had an exciting and adventurous, gratifying existence. So I wasn't surprisingly at ease, much more so than my wife was.

But now I feel, you know, it's in the hands of -- of God, whom I worship, and I'll be prepared for anything that comes.

QUESTION: Thank you.

CARTER: Thank you.

QUESTION: Mr. President...

CARTER: Yes, (inaudible). Hi.

QUESTION: Mr. President, you've just said that you expect that there will be further cancers diagnosed.

CARTER: Yes.

QUESTION: So was it at all difficult -- given the fact you also just said that you thought maybe it was a matter of a few weeks, was it difficult at all to decide to go ahead with treatment? I mean, does your faith play any role in the fact that you did that, or did you consider at any time not doing anything at all?

CARTER: No. I never have doubted that I would carry out the recommendations of Emory doctors. And so when they said that they wanted to go ahead and find out other places that might show cancer and treat them, I'm perfectly at ease with that. And I'm perfectly at ease with whatever comes.

I do have deep religious faith, which I'm very grateful for, and I was pleasantly surprised that -- that I didn't go into an attitude of despair or anger or anything like that. I was just completely at ease. I suppose I would testify it, I think, if you have any doubt about my veracity. But -- but I've just been very grateful for that part of it.

So I'm -- I'm ready for anything and looking forward to a new adventure.

QUESTION: President Carter, Katie Foody with the Associated Press. You just said that you felt at ease. Can you tell us a little bit more about your discussions with your doctors, with your family and how you came to decide that you did want treatment and you wanted to pursue anything that your doctors did recommend would be appropriate for you.

CARTER: That never was a difficulty for me, because I don't think I've ever deviated from a commitment to do what my doctors recommended. So I -- that was not a big decision for me. I -- I decided that to begin with.

And so Dr. Curran (ph) here, and I understand, if you have any technical questions, (inaudible) medical questions, he'd be willing to answer any questions that you might have later on.

But I've -- the three doctors that worked in close harmony with me and the surgeon who did the operation on my liver, Sarmiento (ph), and -- and Dr. Curran (ph), who is a specialist on -- on treatment of -- of cancer and also Dr. Lawson (ph), who is a specialist on melanoma itself -- so they have been like a team, working very closely with me, and I have complete confidence in them.

And they've been gracious enough to reach out to others who have volunteered to consult with them, and I understand they've shared even the MRI with -- with some others. So they're consulting, I guess, with the best cancer treaters in the world. I'm very grateful that Emory is in charge.

QUESTION: Lynne Anderson with Atlanta Journal Constitution.

First of all, President Carter, I'm -- I'm so sorry and sad to hear this news. And I just have a basic question: How are you feeling?

CARTER: I feel good. I haven't felt any weakness or debility. The pain has been very slight. Right after the operation on my liver, I had a little bit of pain in my stomach that was (inaudible) operation (inaudible) made two -- three very tiny incisions in my stomach.

I had some pain in my right shoulder, strangely enough, but the doctor said that's expected, just kind of resonating pain that goes from your liver and internal organs up to your right shoulder if you have -- if you have liver problems, and I think if you have a heart problem, it goes your left shoulder. So I survived that. I only took the pain medicine for a few hours, and then I didn't have to take it anymore.

I had a slight reaction last night to the first treatment of the (inaudible), and I -- I was -- I had a little bit of pain in my shoulder, and -- and I went to bed about 6 o'clock and slept until 8:00 this morning. I think that's the best night's sleep I've had in many years.

(LAUGHTER) So I feel at ease about it, and -- and I have been very lucky that the Emory doctors have been able to control any aspects of pain from the operation or from the presence of cancer.

QUESTION: Mr. President, Tom Jones from WSB TV. You've mentioned all the well-wishers. Has there been any one correspondence or call that really touched you?

CARTER: Well, both of the former President Bush had called me at one time, and then George H.W. Bush, Bush Sr., called me yesterday afternoon again. I think I appreciated that very much, and their wives were there on the telephone with them.

President Obama called, the vice president called, Bill Clinton called, Hillary Clinton, the secretary of State called; the first time they've called me in a long time.

(LAUGHTER) And -- but I think they -- the close friends that I've had around home that have done special things or bring us, you know, peach pies, stuff like that, is what I -- really made me feel more emotional. And my whole family, all of the close -- we have 21 other Carters that live in Georgia and they've been down to see us. They'll be down again this weekend for my wife's birthday celebration. So I just had a multiple infusion of gratitude.

QUESTION: Thank you.

QUESTION: Hi. Jonathan Karl with ABC News. Two questions. First, I saw a report that you told Habitat for Humanity that you would still like to go forward with your trip to Nepal in November. Do you still hope to make that trip? And --

CARTER: That -- that's -- I would still hope to go. It would require an airplane flight from Kathmandu to the Chitwan area, which is south down toward the Indian border. And if I do that, I understand -- I haven't talked to the doctors yet -- but I understand from my schedule that it would require a five-week postponement of my last treatment. So that's what I'm going to have to consider.

But up until this morning, I was completely committed to go to Habitat. But if I don't go, I -- the rest of my family will probably go to take my place.

QUESTION: And if I can ask, you have really re-defined what it means to be a former president. Can you reflect on the work you have done since you left the White House and what you hope to still do?

CARTER: Well, the work of the Carter Center has been, I'd say, more personally gratifying to me because, you know, when you're president, you have a responsibility for over 350 million members and 3,000 members of the Armed Forces and budgets and Congress and so forth. And I was able to a number of good things when I was president, for which I'm very grateful, and that was the high point of my life politically speaking, and I would say that my having been president of the United States, a great country, has made it possible for me to have the influence and contact with people and knowledge that has been the foundation for the Carter Center.

But the Carter Center has a completely different approach. We deal with individual people in the smallest and most obscure and suffering villages in the desert and in the jungles of Africa, and we've had programs in 80 different countries on the Earth for the poorest and most destitute people in the world. And that has been, I'd say, far more gratifying personally because we actually interact with families and with people who are going blind or who have lymphatic filariasis, which is elephantitis, or who have Guinea worm and so forth and going into villages and learning about them and what their needs are and then meeting those needs with the superb Carter Center medical staff I think has been one of the best things that ever happened to me.

I said several times that my life since the White House has been personally more gratifying, although the presidency was obviously the pinnacle of my -- of my political success and also has laid the groundwork for my work at the Carter Center.

QUESTION: Do you still feel you have a lot of work left to do?

CARTER: Well, I do. And within the bounds of my physical and mental capability, I'll continue to do it. But I'm going to have to give the treatment regimen, I think, top priority.

QUESTION: Thank you.

QUESTION: Good morning, Mr. President. Hallie Jackson (ph), NBC News. Given your current cancer diagnosis, given your family history with this disease, what message do you have to other cancer patients who are watching you go through this now?

CARTER: Well, I've learned a lot about cancer with the death of my father and my only brother, but both my sisters from pancreatic cancer. And for a long time, my family was the only one on Earth that had as many as four people who died with pancreatic cancer. It's a very rare thing. I think now they've found two or three other families with it.

After I left the White House and my brothers and sisters continued to die, then they did some special checks on my blood samples and things of that kind and some scans of different kinds.

CARTER: So pancreatic cancer is, I understand, does have some genetic cause -- that's what I've read some of the scientific documents -- but it's exacerbated by smoking cigarettes, which I've never done.

And so, the melanoma is completely different. And it may be in the future, the melanoma will show up on my pancreas, but they have not found that to be true in the last few weeks. They examined the pancreas quite closely.

And so, so far, the only place they've known about the cancer has been in my liver and my brain. So, I would say that one of the greatest scientific developments in the last five years has been with two kinds of cancer. One is lung cancer, and the other one is melanoma.

So, the treatment for melanoma, in addition to radiation and chemotherapy, has been the giving of these medicines that exacerbate, or enhance, I'd say is a better word, that enhance the function of your self-regulating aspect, the auto immune system. So, they make your auto immune system more active. And so, that's a basic approach.

But there are several of these medicines.

QUESTION: So, the message to other patients. Is your message one of hope, it is acceptance.

CARTER: It's one of hope and acceptance, yes. Hope for the best and accept what comes.

You know, we -- I think I have been as blessed as any human being in the world. Becoming president of the United States of America, and governor of Georgia, and worked at the Carter Center, and big and growing family, and thousands of friends. So I don't think -- and living to be 91 years old, 1st of October. So, I've had -- everything has been a blessing for me.

So, I'm thankful and hopeful.

QUESTION: President Carter, Cain Farwell (ph) with Voice of America.

CARTER: OK.

QUESTION: I wanted to ask, what has been -- you said that you sort of take a pragmatic approach to the treatment and the news, but what has been the most difficult part about the news for you in the past couple of weeks?

CARTER: Well, I haven't had any difficult treatment aspect, yet. You know, the -- the liver surgery was very extensive -- but it removed about one-tenth of my liver, I understand.

But it healed up quickly and I had minimal pain. And the first treatment that I had yesterday, will be followed this afternoon by the radiation, and that will be every three weeks for four times, and then they'll reassess.

So, I haven't had any unpleasantness yet.

QUESTION: Is it difficult to step away from all of the busy activities?

CARTER: Well, that's the bad part. I really wanted to go to Nepal to build houses. This would have been our 33rd year, Rosa? Thirty-third year of going without fail, and I was very hopeful about that.

But if it interrupts the straight (ph) treatment regimen, then I think I need to get the treatment.

QUESTION: Thank you.

CARTER: Having a lot of people.

QUESTION: Hello, President Carter. Karen Grier (ph), CBS 46 News.

And just wondering, you touched upon it a little bit. In your illustrious career, as you said, governor here, president, even as husband, father, grandfather -- is there anything, or -- tell us, share with us, what you're most proud of?

And is there anything you might have done differently or thought, maybe I wish I had not done that?

CARTER: Well, the best thing I ever did was marrying Rosa.

(LAUGHTER)

That's the pinnacle of my life. And we've had 69 years together, still together. And -- so that's the best thing that happened to me. I think getting involved in politics, and going up -- you know, as a state senator, then governor, then president of the United States is obviously a glorious event. So -- and we have a growing family. We have 22 grandchildren and great grandchildren, 12 grandchildren and 10 great-grandchildren, now, and they're coming every year.

So, we have a good and harmonious family. And I would say the haven for our lives has been in Plains, Georgia.

I plan to teach Sunday school this Sunday and every Sunday, as long as I'm -- you know, physically and mentally able, in my little church. And we have hundreds of visitors who come to see the curiosity of a politician teaching the Bible, so --

(LAUGHTER)

So I continue that. So I've just had a lot of pleasures.

QUESTION: And anything you wish -- I'm sorry -- that you had not done, or that you had done differently?

CARTER: I wish I had sent on more helicopter to get the hostages, and we would have rescued them, and I would have been reelected.

But that may have -- and that may have interfered with the foundation of the Carter Center.

CARTER: If I had to choose between four more years and the Carter Center, I think I would choose the Carter Center.

QUESTION: Thank you.

CARTER: It could've been both.

QUESTION: President Carter...

(LAUGHTER)

... Donna Lowry 11Alive, WXIA-TV.

I wonder, you just talked about your big family, and with this diagnosis, have you encouraged them to see the doctor? Are you seeing that there's more interest in finding out what's going on with each one of them?

CARTER: I don't think there's any doubt that my descendants have some genetic challenge from the pancreatic cancer and my melanoma. So whatever the doctors recommend for -- you know, for blood tests or things like that, that's a precautionary measure for the other family members.

I think that will probably be put into effect. But I haven't discussed that with them, and I don't know the answer to that.

I'll get two or three more questions. Go ahead.

QUESTION: President Carter, Greg Bluestein with the Atlanta Journal Constitution.

I wonder, how did you break the news to your family?

CARTER: Well, I found out toward the end of May that I have a spot on my liver that was suspect. I think I might in my diary that I didn't tell Rosalynn until about the 15th of -- of June.

And then when I found out I had definitely cancer, key members of my family came in to the Carter Center, and I gave them a briefing and gave our chief executive officer a briefing that -- what the prospects were.

And so -- and then I put out a statement, as soon as I knew about it, to the public that I did have cancer, and when we found out that it had metastasized, we also put out a press conference on that. I didn't say what kind it was. I didn't say it was melanoma. I didn't say it had spread to my brain; I just said, to other parts of my body.

So as quickly as I could, I -- I've -- I've said -- I've told the public and my family the things about which I was absolutely certain, rather than just guessing what might happen.

QUESTION: President Carter, thank you. Sanjay Gupta with CNN.

CARTER: Yeah, I know.

(LAUGHTER)

I've been taking all these other questions so I can get to you, Sanjay.

QUESTION: Well, I have a couple of questions a little bit more specific about the -- the medical aspects. You -- you became ill, you said, in May and came back early to the United States. They had an MRI at that time that showed this liver mass, but it wasn't until two months later, my understanding, from your comments that you had the operation.

CARTER: That's right.

QUESTION: I'm wondering about that time period. Was there -- was there a -- was there a consideration not to do anything during that time period?

CARTER: No.

QUESTION: And also, just -- just quickly, the -- the medications, you said you're following the recommendations of your doctor. Were you given options, and how did you weigh those options?

CARTER: I was given a complete rundown on the options that were available, and when they made a recommendation the particular kind of medical treatment -- I had an I.V. yesterday -- I took their advice.

And we knew, I would say, the end of June that I had to have an operation on my liver. But I had an extensive book tour scheduled on 14 or 15 cities, and I wanted to do that, and the doctors told me that it was a very slow-growing cancer apparently. It wouldn't make any difference between the middle of July and -- and the 3rd of August, so we scheduled it when I got through with the book tour.

And coincidentally, a lot more importantly, my surgeon was -- had scheduled a vacation trip in Spain, and so the combination of all those things just caused me to wait until everything was ready.

So I stayed very busy during that time, and I didn't tell anybody much about it, except Rosalynn.

QUESTION: Thank you.

CARTER: Did you have another question, Sanjay?

QUESTION: That's it.

CARTER: OK, thanks.

QUESTION: President, Wright Gazaway with WALB in Albany.

You mentioned Plains there. Talk a little bit about the support of them and what that's meant to you.

CARTER: Well, Plains is -- is my home. I was born there. My wife was born there, and I know Rosalynn when she was born. I was three year older. I still am.

(LAUGHTER)

And Plains had always been a haven for us. When I got out of the Navy in 1953, I came back to Plains, and I was (inaudible) for about 17 years. And then when I got through being governor, I came back to Plains. When I got through with being president, I came back to Plains.

And now, no matter where we are in the world, we're always looking forward to getting back home to Plains. That's where our land is. We've had the same farm since 1833. We have a newer farm we got in -- 1904. We still grow peanuts and cotton and corn on the farm.

And so my roots are there, and -- and my closest friends are there, and our little church is there, which is very important to me.