99-year-old Jimmy Carter started hospice care over a year ago, living each day to the fullest as best he could. However, his grandson, Jason Carter, recently revealed that it is common for Carter to no longer be awake every day, marking a new phase of his health deterioration.
The 39th president of the United States had a troubled history of health battles leading up to the start of hospice. In 2015, he underwent surgery to remove a mass on his liver; that same procedure revealed that he had cancer that had spread to other parts of his body. A fall in 2019 resulted in a broken hip, and additional falls resulted in internal bleeding causing pressure on his brain.
Jimmy Carter’s grandson, Jason Carter, says that there are days when the former president does not wake up at all
Jason recently spoke with Southern Living regarding his grandfather’s health, as well as how the Carter family has been taking care of the former president during his hospice care.
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Jason reports that, generally, there has “really been no change” in Carter’s health. However, the new definition of “no change” has itself changed dramatically for the famously active Carter. “[He’s] experiencing the world as best he can as he continues through this process,” said Jason.
In total, Carter has four children: Jason, James, Amy, and Jack. The four of them continue to visit the former president, but because of Carter’s condition, Jason explained, there is never any way of knowing just what state he’ll be in when they see him next.
Contending with grief on multiple fronts
For roughly 16 months, Carter has been receiving hospice care in the same home he and his wife of over 77 years, Rosalynn, built in 1961. Tragically, Rosalynn died last autumn at the age of 96. Jason believes that the loss of his beloved wife shattered something within Carter.
“After 77 years of marriage… I just think none of us really understand what it’s like for him right now,” he explained. “We have to embrace that fact, that there’s things about the spirit that you just can’t understand.”
Carter has stayed out of the public eye through most of his hospice care but did attend Rosalynn’s memorial service. After the ceremony, she was buried at their Plains residence, which is where Carter shall be laid to rest when it is his time.
“I think the fact that he and my grandmother both came from that small town — it’s a 600 person village, really — and it’s not near any interstate and it is truly out in the country and it is a fundamental part of who he is and who he has been for his whole life,” said Jason. “There is no other place in the world that he would be at peace other than Plains.”
