Jimmy Carter turns 100 on October 1 after spending more than 19 months in hospice care and losing his beloved wife Rosalynn last year.
The former president’s grandson shared an update on his health this week, saying he is physically weakened but mentally and emotionally still present.
Jason Carter made the latest announcement during a celebration of his grandfather on September 17 at the Fox Theatre in Atlanta.
The Jimmy Carter 100: A Celebration in Song concert birthday party included performances and guest appearances by celebrity artists such as Renée Zellweger, Dale Murphy and Killer Mike.
Jimmy Carter’s grandson Jason provided another health update on the ailing former president, with just weeks to go until he turns 100
Former Presidents George W. Bush, Bill Clinton and Barack Obama attended a virtual speech honoring their one-term Democratic predecessor.
“He’s doing great,” Jason said of the former president, two weeks shy of his 100th birthday.
“I mean, he’s been in hospice for over 19 months now and he’s physically very much deteriorated and can’t do much for himself, but he’s emotionally engaged and still experiencing new things, laughing and loving others,” he added.
The centennial milestone comes just over a month before the 2024 presidential election.
Jason revealed during an interview with Southern Living in June that the 99-year-old patriarch of the Carter family no longer wakes up every day.
“He’s experiencing the world as best he can as he goes through this process,” Jason said at the time.
The former president’s grandson also noted that there has been “basically no change” in his health after more than a year in home health care, where he first entered in February 2023.
Jimmy Carter, 99, was last seen in public at his wife Rosalynn’s funeral in November 2023 (pictured) — and has been receiving hospice care at his home in Plains, Georgia, since February 2023.
During this time, Carter’s wife Rosalynn died in November 2023 at the age of 96 at their home in Plains, Georgia.
The funeral of his beloved wife was the last time Carter was seen in public.
“After 77 years of marriage… I don’t think any of us really understand what it’s like for him right now,” Jason told Southern Living when we spoke earlier this summer.
“We have to accept that there are things about the mind that you just can’t understand.”