Charity Oil is very proud to support organizations like the American Cancer Society. The following news article highlights just how important it is that we all keep our eyes open for signs of skin cancer. Our prayers are with the Carter family.

Video: Jimmy Carter’s Brain Cancer

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Following President Jimmy Carters announcement that cancer has spread to his brain, Channel 2’s Craig Lucie sat down with the deputy chief medical officer of the American Cancer Society.

President Carter said in a news conference that his radiation would start Thursday afternoon, just hours after he spoke candidly about his diagnosis.

“The cancer has spread to parts of my brain,” Carter said.

Dr. Len Lichtenfeld told Lucie that Carter is just beginning a battle 1.6 million people face each year.

“Here’s a man who has just been told he has melanoma, which traditionally has been a difficult cancer to treat. It has spread to other parts of his body, including his brain, and he was able to share with the world how at ease he is with his doctors, with the diagnosis,” Lichtenfeld said.

Dr. Len, as he is known to many, explained how the type of melanoma Carter has is not frequently diagnosed, but he says it’s commonly discovered in a person’s liver and brain.

“The lesions in the brain are very small, 2 millimeters, is barely something you can see,” Lichtenfeld said. “What the doctors have done is remove cancer in his liver. They don’t see any other lesions elsewhere in the brain, and they are going to give radiation therapy, possibly called focused radiation, or what we call stereotactic radiation, to those brain lesions.”

Carter will also be receiving a drug that was still in the research phase while he was president.

“The drug that he is receiving is called an immunotherapy drug. It is designed to help the body’s own defense mechanisms to essentially wake up and fight the cancer,” Lichtenfeld told Lucie.

Lichtenfeld said what Carter did Thursday morning is something he has done his whole life, which is help people.

“He sent a message to not only those folks but about what it means to be diagnosed with cancer and be a cancer survivor,” Lichtenfeld said.

According to the American Cancer Society, about 74,000 people will be diagnosed with melanoma this year.

Lichtenfeld said they don’t know how aggressive Carter’s cancer is, and it can rapidly spread, but he says fortunately from what he heard Thursday, it doesn’t appear that Carter’s cancer is quickly spreading.

 

This article originally appeared at: http://www.wsbtv.com/news/news/local/american-cancer-society-talks-treatment-president-/nnNkB/