Former US President Jimmy Carter is set to begin receiving hospice care after ending medical treatment. The Carter Center announced in a statement on Saturday February 18 that the 98-year-old would be moved to a hospice following "a series of short hospital stays".
"Former US President Jimmy Carter today decided to spend his remaining time at home with his family and receive hospice care instead of additional medical intervention," the statement said.
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"He has the full support of his family and his medical team," it continued. "The Carter family asks for privacy during this time and is grateful for the concern shown by his many admirers."
President Carter led the United States for four years between 1977 and 1981. He launched the Carter Center in 1982 and in its 40 years it has aided in a wide range of humanitarian efforts.
In 2002 President Carter was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for his work in co-founding the Center which helps to conduct peace negotiations, monitor elections, and advance disease prevention and eradication across the globe.
In 1994, he travelled to North Korea for a peace mission on the behalf of then President Bill Clinton, and in 2007 he announced his participation in The Elders, a group of independent global leaders who work together on peace and human rights issues that included Nelson Mandela and Kofi Annan.
Jimmy and Rosalynn married in 1946
He became the longest-living United States president in 2019 when President George H.W. Bush died at the age of 94.
In 2015, President Carter was diagnosed with cancer that had metastasized, although he did not specify where the cancer had originated.
Later that year he disclosed that melanoma had been found in his brain and liver, and that he had begun treatment with an immunotherapy drug and radiation therapy. In December 2015 he issued a statement announcing that his medical scans no longer showed any cancer.
Throughout 2019 the politican suffered from a series of falls, and was later hospitalized for a procedure to relieve pressure on his brain caused by bleeding connected to his falls.
Jimmy in 2019 teaching Sunday school in Georgia
In his four decades since leaving office, he has authored 30 books; the most recent was released only five years ago.
Along with his wife Rosalynn, whom he married in 1946, Jimmy would spend a week each year volunteering with Habitat for Humanity before the COVID-19 pandemic, and he also continued to teach Sunday school classes in his hometown of Plains, Georgia.
Jimmy and Rosalynn have three sons, Jack, James III, and Donnel, and one daughter, Amy. They are also grandparents to 12 grandchildren, and 13 great-grandchilren.
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