Jimmy Carter: I have cancer

The 90-year-old’s foundation said in a statement: “Recent liver surgery revealed that I have cancer that now is in other parts of my body.”

Mr Carter said he will be treated at Emory Healthcare in Atlanta, Georgia, his home state.

The statement said more details would be released “when facts are known, possibly next week”.

President Barack Obama says he and first lady Michelle Obama wish Mr Carter a fast and full recovery.

Mr Obama addressed Mr Carter directly in a statement, saying: “Jimmy, you’re as resilient as they come, and along with the rest of America, we are rooting for you.”

Mr Carter, a former peanut farmer and ex-Georgia governor, was the nation’s 39th president from 1977-81.

The Democrat later set up the Carter Center in Atlanta in 1982 to promote democracy, healthcare and other issues.

The Carter Center said earlier this month that his surgery was “elective”.

His “prognosis is excellent for a full recovery”, a spokeswoman said at the time.

The Nobel Peace Prize winner has written more than 20 books since leaving office.

In his latest work, A Full Life, he wrote that his father, brother and two sisters had all died of pancreatic cancer and that the trend worried his doctors at the Emory.

*Originally reported by Sky News