Jimmy Carter is doing OK, but might be "coming to the end," according to his grandson. Jason Carter, the chair of the board of trustees for the Carter Center and the former president's grandson, spoke about Jimmy Carter's health at the 28th Rosalynn Carter Georgia Mental Health Forum on Tuesday, May 14, 2024.
Jimmy Carter, 99, has been in hospice care in Georgia for more than a year. His wife, Rosalynn Carter, entered hospice care in November 2023, about six months after her dementia diagnosis was disclosed. She died two days later at age 96.
At the time of her death, family members said that Jimmy Carter seemed to stay alive through nine months of hospice care to be with his wife, The New York Times reported.
Before Rosalynn Carter’s memorial service, Jason Carter told the New York Times that "he’s coming to the end, and he’s very, very physically diminished."
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Jason Carter's update was similar. He shared that he recently visited his grandfather. "He really is, I think, coming to the end," he said on May 14. "There’s a part of this faith journey that is so important to him, 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.”
At the same time, he said, "my grandfather is doing OK. He has been in hospice, as you know, for some almost a year and a half now."
Though Jason Carter admitted that it seems like the 39th president of the United States "is coming to the end," he said that his grandfather is also "still there," as he made a joke during his grandson's recent visit.
Jason Carter shared what he said to his grandfather during the recent visit: "People ask me how you’re doing. And I say, 'I don’t know.'"
Jason Carter said his grandfather responded with: "Well, I don’t know myself."
Paige Alexander, CEO of the Carter Center, also provided an update on Jimmy Carter's health recently, according to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. The outlet reported that Alexander said "there really hasn’t been a significant change."
"I mean, he will always be one bad cold away from the end. He is in hospice care, and there are palliative measures if he’s in pain, but nothing else," Alexander said, as per The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
