ATLANTA — Six months after Jimmy Carter entered hospice care at his Plains home, his grandson told People in an interview Saturday that "it's clear we're in the final chapter" in regard to his health.
The 98-year-old Carter entered home hospice care back in February after he had been in and out of the hospital with different bouts, although the specifics of those health issues are unknown.
In the interview, Josh Carter said that the former president is "still fully Jimmy Carter" while saying that people are at their house around the clock, never leaving the Carters away from company. He said those people have only been family and caregivers and that Jimmy has "felt the love."
Despite his wife Rosalynn Carter recently diagnosed with dementia, Josh said that his grandmother is fully aware and that she still knows who her family is. Jimmy and Rosalynn celebrated their 77th wedding anniversary back in early July.
"They are still holding hands... it's just amazing," Josh said in the interview. He also told them that while it may be difficult for Jimmy to see his wife lose some of her memory, "they've experienced everything you can together. I think the beautiful thing is that they are still together."
He survived a dire cancer diagnosis in 2015 and was later cleared in 2017.
More recently, Carter underwent brain surgery in 2019 to relieve pressure caused by bleeding after a series of falls, some of which left the former president with a fractured pelvis, a black eye and stitches. He was quick to recover, however, and was quickly back teaching Sunday school and volunteering with Habitat for Humanity.
Jimmy Carter is the longest-living former U.S. president ever at age 98, and him and Rosalyn's blissful 77-year marriage makes hem the longest-married presidential couple ever.