detect in the future. reporter: thurs, president jimmy carter received radiation treatment after doctors removed cancer from his liver. his regimen, radiation and drugs to boost his immune system. his family has a history of pancreatic cancer that killed his brother and two sisters. i ll be prepared for anything that comes. reporter: the 90-year-old georgia peanut farmer, who became the 39th president is reflective about his life. the best thing i did was marry. that s the pinnacle of my life and we have had 69 years together. still together. so, that s the best thing that happened to me. reporter: carter said his biggest regret was he was unable to free the hostages in iran on
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 2 millimeters if you can envision what a millimeter is and i 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 fitted me with a mask to hold my head perfectly still while the radiation goes into the right places and i am prepared for that which takes place this afternoon. in addition they ve given me an iv with 30 minutes of a medicine that they use for melanoma that
a courageous and candid admission from former president jimmy carter today. the 39th president talking for the first time since he announced that he was diagnosed with liver cancer earlier this month. this morning, he spoke openly about how the disease has spread. about a tenth of my liver. and they did a biopsy and found out it was indeed cancer and it was a melanoma. and they did an mri and founlds 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. i ll get my first radiation treatment on my brain this afternoon.
john. amazing. suzanne malveaux, thank you so much. i want to bring? ambassador stewart eisenstat. thank you so much for being with us. thank you very much for having me, john. jimmy carter is 90 years old. i found that news conference to be remarkable, arresting, even. i couldn t take my eyes off. to see this 90-year-old man to speak with such poise and grace, as he was at that point hours away from the first radiation treatment for cancer in his brain. i wonder if you were surprised or if this is just the jimmy carter you have come to know over the years. this is the jimmy carter i have come to know from the first days when he ran for governor, and then president, and then in the white house. he s a person who takes pressure with great grace. i watched the news conference with a mixture of obvious sadness at the condition, but with great pride in the way he s facing his challenge.
is so full of spirit and so full of life. you saw that today. that s the he s facing a new adventure. this is the adventure of going this afternoon for his first radiation treatment. yeah. and we know from dr. azar that stage iv is serious but there are new treatments. i talked to my own doctor today, i m a cancer survivor. there s a lot done and emory is a great place and he s consulting with them. he s got the best medical treatment. and he s just an extraordinary person. just as a young correspondent, luke, you will relate to this. when you were starting out i was backing up, judy, two senior white house correspondents. i was the weekend duty person who would go to sunday school and be the pool reporter very often covering his sunday school bible lesson. he taught sunday school on sundays. and then i would go to plains on thanksgiving and christmas when