Jimmy Carter Is 'Coming To The End,' Grandson Says
The grandson of Jimmy Carter on Tuesday shared an update on the former president’s health more than a year after he entered hospice care.
Speaking at the 28th Rosalynn Carter Georgia Mental Health Forum, Jason Carter, the chair of The Carter Center, said the 39th president “is doing ok.”
“He really is, I think, coming to the end that, as I’ve said before, there’s a part of this faith journey that is so important to him,” he said. “And there’s a part of that faith journey that you only can live at the very end. And I think he has been there in that space.”
Jason Carter said he visited his grandfather a couple of weeks ago, when they watched an Atlanta Braves game together. He then shared a brief exchange they had.
“‘People ask me how you’re doing and I say, I don’t know’ and he said, ‘Well, I don’t know myself,’” the younger Carter recalled.
Carter, 99, entered hospice care at his Plains, Georgia, home in February 2023. He made a rare public appearance to attend the funeral of his wife of 77 years, Rosalynn Carter, in November. Carter, who arrived in a wheelchair pushed by one of his aides, appeared frail at the time.
The former first lady, who was diagnosed with dementia, died on Nov. 19, two months after entering hospice care. She was 96.
“My grandmother’s passing was a difficult moment for all of us, including my grandfather,” Jason Carter said.
But he said the family was deeply touched by the messages of support they got after the news of her death was made public.
“The outpouring of love and support that we as a family received from the people in this room and from the rest of the world was so remarkable and meaningful for us and really turned this process into a celebration,” he told the audience of the forum.
Last week, Jason Carter told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution’s “The Monica Pearson Show” that his grandfather cast a mail-in ballot in this month’s primary election in the Peach State.
“He’s not going to miss an election!” he said. “It’s important to him. I mean, that’s the person he is.”
