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Jimmy Carter: 'I'm still maintaining a pretty normal schedule'

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Former President Jimmy Carter at a Habitat for Humanity site in Memphis.
Former President Jimmy Carter at a Habitat for Humanity site in Memphis.

Former President Jimmy Carter took a break Monday from reprising his role as Habitat for Humanity's most recognizable champion to talk with All Things Considered's Kelly McEvers from Memphis, Tenn.

He says despite being diagnosed with brain cancer in August, he hasn't begun to cut back on his schedule yet "because I still feel good." He adds:

"I'm taking special treatments for the cancer in my brain and in my liver. Part of the liver was removed and they did the treatment on four places in my brain with radiation.

"And now I'm taking a long-term medicine that stimulates my own immune system to fight against cancer. It's a newly developed medicine, so we don't know yet what the results have been. I'm feeling better than anybody expected me to so I'm still maintaining a pretty normal schedule, I'd say."

Former President Jimmy Carter at a Habitat for Humanity site in Memphis on Monday. He says: "I would have probably been in Myanmar now, which used to be Burma, had my problem with cancer not come up."
Former President Jimmy Carter at a Habitat for Humanity site in Memphis on Monday. He says: "I would have probably been in Myanmar now, which used to be Burma, had my problem with cancer not come up."

He says he was originally supposed to be in Nepal this week, but was unable to go because of boycotts there. He also said Nepal would not allow supplies to enter.

Carter, who turned 91 last month, said even though the cancer diagnosis has made him more careful about how he spends his time, he still packs a full schedule.

"I still teach at the Sunday school every Sunday like I did. I still work at the Carter Center.

"I would have probably been in Myanmar now, which used to be Burma, had my problem with cancer not come up. But I'm still, except for making overseas trips, I'm staying just about as busy as I ever did."

The 39th president vowed to "come back to Memphis next August and build" with Habitat for Humanity, an organization he has been associated with for more than three decades. Copyright 2019 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.