When he sat down last week to talk about the cancer that has spread to several parts of his body, Jimmy Carter was very calm in discussing his reaction to the dreaded diagnosis.

At first, he recounted, “I thought I just had a few weeks left. But I was surprisingly at ease.

“I’ve had a wonderful life,” Carter said, noting the “thousands” of friends, the many supportive family members, and a growing number of grandchildren and great-grandchildren: “More of them come every year.”

As he nears the end of his life—the former president will be 91 on Oct. 1—Carter knows that, when all is said and done, family and friends are really the things that matter.

It was interesting to learn that Carter is most proud not of the fact that he held this country’s highest office, but of what he’s been able to do in 35 years since leaving the presidency: building houses for the poor, working to eradicate guinea worm disease, monitoring elections, trying to advance the cause of peace.

“My life since the White House has been personally more gratifying, although the presidency was obviously the pinnacle of my political success,” he confessed.

What struck me most about Carter’s statements was that he decided to make one last try at a very advanced age to fight back against the disease that killed his parents and all of his siblings. Cancer is a horrible disease that requires extreme measures if you want to have any hope of  controlling it. Most patients who are being treated for cancer quickly learn that the treatment often feels worse than the disease.

Consider the options that a cancer patient faces. You will be cut open for surgeries that remove large portions of skin, muscle tissue, and internal organs. Your doctor may even recommend amputating a limb. You will have large needles jammed into every part of your anatomy. If there’s scar tissue from previous cancer surgeries, it will be like trying to push a needle into a brick. You will be blasted with radiation that leaves a painful sunburn and makes you feel like your skin is on fire.

You will sit in a chair for hours while poisonous chemicals are dripped into your veins in an attempt to kill the cancer cells. These chemicals are so dangerous that the infusion nurses wear safety gloves. The chemicals used against cancer cells also kill large amounts of healthy tissue and can leave you feeling so weak that you can’t even make it to the bathroom. In some instances, you may vomit and watch your hair fall out. You can have an adverse reaction to the treatments that drives you into a delirium so intense it makes you rip a catheter out of your jugular vein.

I can attest to these side effects, because I’ve dealt with the same type of cancer that has invaded Carter’s body. In fact, my oncologist is part of the team at Emory that will be treating the former president. I’ve been cut, burned and poisoned more times than I care to remember. Carter is now starting to experience some of those same procedures.

He has always been a very thorough and methodical person. I have to think that Carter insisted on being fully briefed on what he might encounter if he went ahead with treatment for melanoma. The fact that he chose to take this difficult path as he nears 91 shows that he has a very special kind of courage.

As he talked about the “adventure” that lies ahead, Carter remarked: “I’m perfectly at ease with whatever comes... I’ll be prepared for it when it comes.”

I believe him.