Jimmy Carter’s grandson has provided an update on the former president’s health 15 months after he entered hospice care.
Jason Carter, the 39th president’s grandson, said there has been “really no change” in his grandfather’s condition. The most recent update was shared with Southern Living Magazine.
According to Jason, “the 99-year-old is experiencing the world as best he can as he continues this process.”
Carter has been in hospice care since February 2023, while the average hospice stay is only 70 days.
Rosalynn Carter tragically passed away last November after she and Carter had been married for 77 years.
Jason Carter, grandson of Jimmy Carter (pictured), said there is “really no change” in his grandfather’s condition
“God had other plans,” Jason Carter said of his grandfather who unexpectedly lasted so long after the death of his beloved wife.
“After 77 years of marriage … I don’t think any of us really understand what it’s like for him now,” Jason Carter said.
Jason said Carter isn’t awake every day, but he still talks to family members and visitors when he is awake.
The former president is receiving care at his home in his small hometown of Plains, Georgia.
During a recent visit, Jason said he and his grandfather watched an Atlanta Braves game and talked about The Carter Center, the family’s nonprofit organization.
According to Jason Carter (pictured), the 99-year-old is “experiencing the world as best he can as he continues this process.”
Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter were married for 77 years and lived in the same modest home in Plains, Georgia for decades
In May, the nonprofit’s CEO, Paige Alexander, said Carter was “at home enjoying peanut butter ice cream.”
Carter Center CEO Paige Alexander said Wednesday on The Atlanta Journal-Constitution’s Politically Georgia podcast that “there really hasn’t been any significant change” in the ex-president’s health.
The Georgia peanut farmer and oldest living president has been in hospice care for more than a year after deciding to forego further medical treatment.
“I mean, he’s always going to be one bad cold away from the end,” Alexander told the podcast. ‘He is in a hospice and there are palliative measures if he is in pain, but nothing else.’
“He’s just the same remarkable man. He has always outlasted and surprised us,” Alexander added.
In another update shared last month, Jason said his grandfather’s time was “coming to an end.”
Jason Carter said at a mental health forum: “My grandfather is doing well.
In another update shared last month, Jason said his grandfather’s time was ‘coming to an end’
“He’s been in hospice, as you know, for almost a year and a half now, and he’s really coming to the end, I think, that as I’ve said before, there’s a part of this faith journey that’s so important to him, and there’s a part of that journey of faith that you can only live at the very end and I think he’s been there in that space.”
In November, Carter attended the private funeral of his wife in a wheelchair. He wore a red lei around his neck in honor of Rosalynn’s love of Hawaii, where the Carters lived when Jimmy was in the Navy.
Her children paid tribute to her, and in one of the service’s most beautiful moments, her great-grandchild Charlie Carter read a line from Ephesians 4:32: “Be kind to one another.”
And her great-grandchild Adeline Kane Chuldenko read 1 Corinthians 13:13: “So now faith, hope, and love endure, these three; but the greatest of these is love.”
During the private funeral service, Maranatha Pastor Tony Lowden paid tribute to “the life and legacy of the greatest first lady.”
Rosalynn Carter was not “just the first lady of the White House,” he said. “She has served all the countries of the world.”
After the service, Rosalynn was buried in the modest Plains, Georgia, home she shared with husband Jimmy Carter, overlooking the porch where the two often sat.