Jimmy Carter 'cancer free'

A parishioner of the Maranatha Baptist Church in Plains, Georgia, told reporters Carter had shared the news with the congregation at the beginning of a Sunday school class.

"He said he got a scan this week and the cancer was gone," church congregant Jill Stuckey told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution newspaper by phone, adding that "the church, everybody here, just erupted in applause."

Carter's grandson Jason Carter told The Associated Press news agency in a text message that his grandfather "told me that the doctors couldn't find any cancer in his most recent scan." The former president himself later issued a statement confirming the news and adding that he would continue to receive doses of an immunotherapy drug.

Carter had announced in August that he was undergoing treatment for melanoma which had spread to his brain. Earlier that month doctors had removed a part of his liver.

The former peanut farmer served as president of the United States between 1977 and 1981. After leaving the White House he founded the Carter Center, a human rights organization. In 2002, he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.

se/jlw (AFP, AP, Reuters)