How Immunotherapy Extended President Jimmy Carter’s Life

Jimmy Carter, the 39th president of the United States, passed away on December 29, 2024, at the age of 100 in his hometown of Plains, Georgia. The former U.S. president had been in hospice care since February 2023 following declining health.

Prior to his political career, President Carter served 15 years in the U.S. Navy, working both ship and submarine duties before becoming a reserve officer. He left the service branch at the rank of lieutenant in 1961. Before he engaged in politics and then became a champion of cancer immunotherapy, President Carter’s graduate school studies involved reactor technology and nuclear physics at Union College. Alicia Zhou, PhD, Cancer Research Institute (CRI) CEO, said President Carter’s cancer journey and perseverance should inspire us all. 

“President Jimmy Carter’s courageous victory against cancer and his openness about embracing immunotherapy inspired hope for millions around the world. His story stands as a testament to the transformative power of scientific innovation, reminding us that breakthroughs in immunotherapy can turn even the most challenging diagnoses into stories of resilience and triumph.” 

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President Carter’s funeral was held January 9, 2025, at the Washington National Cathedral. He will be laid to rest in his hometown of Plains, GA.

In August of 2015, President Carter discovered that he had a melanoma lesion on his liver. Though this initial mass was removed, it was subsequently discovered to have spread across four different areas in his brain.  

President Carter’s doctors took a bold initiative in treating his cancer. An immunotherapy treatment, pembrolizumab (Keytruda®), had only earned U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval in 2014, the year before his diagnosis.  

Leading up to its FDA approval, Keytruda® proved very effective in combating advanced melanoma. Following four rounds of Keytruda® treatment in tandem with radiation therapy, his doctors declared that President Carter no longer had metastasized melanoma.  

Over the past decade, immunotherapy has been catapulted in the public consciousness as an innovative avenue for treating cancer, due in large part to President Carter’s successful treatment. His courage to be so public with his cancer diagnosis was instrumental in introducing immunotherapy to the broader public. To see a prominent figure in his 90s receive such an innovative, forward-looking treatment opened the eyes of many doctors, patients, caregivers, and families.  

In fact, Matilde Quintana and Barbara Bigelow, both CRI ImmunoAdvocates who share their stories of survival and who speak with current cancer patients, have stated that they learned about the potential benefits of immunotherapy for their own cancer diagnoses, after learning about President Carter’s successful treatment.  

Many of the eulogies at President Carter’s funeral painted a portrait of a man who cared deeply for his fellow human beings—before, during, and after his presidency. Jason Carter, President Carter’s grandson and a eulogizer at his grandfather’s funeral, is the Chairman of the Board for the Carter Center, a nonprofit founded by President Carter and his late wife Rosalynn Carter. The center seeks to alleviate human suffering along multiple prongs including public health. Jason Carter recalled his grandfather as a man driven fundamentally by love and respect. 

“Sometimes, I feel and felt like I shared my grandfather with the world. Today is one of those days. But really, he shared the world with me,” Jason Carter remarked before a room filled with family members, past presidents, and others. “His life was a love story. Love for his fellow humans, not just for some people, but for all people.” 

Since President Carter’s treatment with Keytruda®, the field of immunotherapy has rapidly advanced. Today, 45% of newly diagnosed cancer patients are eligible for this approach. Just one year after his treatment, CRI launched its first Immunotherapy Patient Summit in 2016, linking patients and caregivers with clinical trials and experts. By June 2024, the drug achieved its 40th FDA approval. 

Those who have worked with President Carter in a humanitarian capacity have spoken of a man who put aside ego in favor of outcome. John Hardman, MD, former Carter Center CEO, said President Carter knew that all healthcare is local. 

“He understood that for any program to work, it had to be through the people on the ground taking care of their own health and taking care of their neighbors’ health,” Dr. Hardman told Georgia Public Broadcasting, a PBS and NPR affiliate. “We would always go into a country saying, ‘What are your critical needs? How would you like to do it?’ We wanted them to do it because that was the only way we saw that it was going to be successful. We didn’t have to own it.” 

President Carter seemed to understand something fundamental—that progress, including the scientific kind that can save lives from disease, is most effective when its shared and collaborated. Jason Carter said that even when his grandfather was on the other side of the globe, he saw himself in other communities that just needed a little empowerment to achieve improved community health. 

“When he saw a tiny 600-person village that everybody else thinks of as poor, he recognized it. That’s where he was from. He never saw it as a place to send pity,” Jason Carter explained. “In those tiny 600-person villages is an army of Jimmy and Rosalynn Carters who have demonstrated their own power to change their world.”

Jason Carter and Dr. Hardmans’ sentiments about President Carter can be boiled down to one word: empathy. Jim Brasher, who served special assistant to President Carter and chief development officer at The Carter Center, said President Carter saw public health as deeply personal. 

“He really had an empathy, and I call it an obligation … to be open.,” Brasher told Georgia Public Broadcasting. “He really had the capacity, and (Rosalynn) did too, of being able to put themselves in the position of the people that they were working with.”

President Carter’s remarkable journey—from cancer diagnosis to recovery—helped transform the conversation around immunotherapy, offering hope to millions facing similar battles. His openness about his treatment not only elevated awareness but also underscored the life-saving potential of cutting-edge science. As immunotherapy continues to advance, President Carter’s legacy endures—not only as a champion of human rights and public service but also as a symbol of resilience and the possibilities unlocked by modern medicine. 

*This story will be updated.