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Cancer spread to Jimmy Carter's brain 9 years ago. Here's how he's lived so long.

USA Today
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Former President Jimmy Carter was diagnosed with melanoma in August 2015 .

He was given immunotherapy, a form of cancer immunotherapy.

Experts say immunotherapy is now a major pillar of cancer care.

Carter 's treatment came "on the cusp" of the time doctors were first realizing how effective immunotherapy could be.

Doctors say Jimmy Carter would not have lived much more than six months without pembrolizumab.

"Unleashing the immune system can lead to a normal life," Ribas says.

Researchers are still trying to get immunotherapies to work for more melanoma patients.