ATLANTA — Former President Jimmy Carter's condition remains "essentially" unchanged since entering hospice care more than a year ago, according to his grandson Jason Carter.
But the younger Carter, who chairs the board of trustees at The Carter Center, said that the 39th president is "really coming to the end, but he knows he's not in charge, and we don't know when that will be."
Jason revealed the news during an interview with 11Alive's Sunday politics show, The Georgia Vote.
"He's been in this situation now in hospice for more than a year, and it's amazing because when he first went into hospice, we thought we had a matter of days with him," Jason said.
"Obviously, he's mourned the passing of his wife of 77 years, which is just an unbelievable thing," he added.
But Jason said his grandfather's spirit remain strong.
"He turned 99 last year, and he's been in this hospice situation for so long, and he's so severely limited physically that we've all been worried that he's miserable," Jason shared. "But we had this moment, he and I, last year on his 99th birthday."
"The Carter Center had done this enormous social media project where there were birthday wishes from all over the world, and I was telling him about it," Jason said. "I said, 'Papa we got all these birthday wishes,' and he said, 'From who?'"
"I said, 'Papa, from thousands and thousands and thousands of people' and 'from over 100 countries," Jason recalled. "And he, like, paused and it really hit him in Plains, Georgia, on this day, when he was 99, and he said, '100 countries.'"
"He kind of teared up," the younger Carter shared. "And it's just an incredible idea to think that somebody like that from that little place could have had the impact truly globally that he had, and I think it affected him."