Monitoring Desk
ISLAMABAD: A former US President Jimmy Carter family member said Friday that his children and grandchildren are staying by his side as he receives hospice care at his home in Georgia.
After George H W Bush died in late 2018 at 94, Carter, who turned 98 last year, has become the oldest living US president. Carter’s family announced on Saturday that the former president had entered hospice care after years of declining health.
The nation’s 39th president has kept a low public profile in recent years due to the coronavirus pandemic, but he has continued to speak out about dangers to democracy around the world, a long-time- time cause of his.
Carter defeated brain cancer in 2015 but faced several health scares in 2019 and consequentially undertook surgery to remove pressure on his brain. His health issues forced him to discontinue his decades-long practice of teaching Sunday school at Maran atha Baptist Church in Plains, Georgia.
Smith believes that as Carter approaches the end of his life, the family who surrounds him will find comfort. Smith said, “I know I had conversations with my dad when he had cancer and was in hospice, and it’s just invaluable time you can never appreciate enough.”
LeAnne Smith, a niece of Carter’s wife Rosalynn, told CNN that former US president’s kids and grandkids were beside his hospital bed. Smith last saw Carter about a month ago, when he and Rosalynn were riding in a golf cart to downtown Plains.
The Carters’ announcement that he would receive hospice care brought a flood of media and
well-wishers to his hometown, which Smith said was “good for all of us in the healing process.”
She added that others who “have come to share and witness his legacy, I think it’s been a perfect thing.”
Carter, a Democrat, began his political career as a peanut farmer and US Navy lieutenant before becoming governor of Georgia and president of the United States.
The former president is well-known for his support of human rights. His role in mediating the
Camp David Accords in 1978 between Egyptian President Anwar Sadat and Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin is central to his legacy. Carter founded The Carter Centre in his post-presidency years with his wife, Rosalynn, hoping to advance world peace and health.
Over the years, the center has worked to advance democracy over the years by tracking foreign elections and reducing disease in developing countries.
