The family of former President Jimmy Carter said the 99-year-old is living as best he can in his final days but admitted that he is facing challenges that they believe are portending his death.3.000 × 1.687

According to grandson Jason Carter who spoke with Southern Living Magazine, the elderly Democrat struggles to wake up at all some days now that he is 16 months into hospice care in Plains, Georgia. The public, accustomed to seeing the former president teach Sunday school and assist in the building of homes well into his 90s, is now seeing a different side of his grandfather, Jason said. He added that the death of his wife, former First Lady Rosalynn Carter, in November has taken a toll.

“After 77 years of marriage… I just think none of us really understand what it’s like for him right now,” Jason told Southern Living earlier this month, People Magazine reported. “We have to embrace that fact, that there’s things about the spirit that you just can’t understand.”

Despite the challenges, the 39th president’s family still makes it out to see him most days, Jason, 48, admitted. “[He’s] experiencing the world as best he can as he continues through this process,” Jason said. In February 2023, President Carter and his wife chose to begin hospice care at the Plains facility he founded in 1961. Since Rosalyn’s death, he has stayed mostly out of public view with the exception of her memorial events, People added, including at the Baptist church where Carter taught Sunday school for decades.

“[Plains] is the place that has given him the greatest support and it is the only place where he would go through this part of his life,” Jason, who lives in Atlanta, said of his grandfather. “That’s his home in every way, and he really cherished that time and that support.”

When President Carter eventually passes, he will be buried next to his wife and near the Plains home they shared for 77 years. The couple have deeded their property to the National Park Service, which plans to convert the homestead into a museum showcasing his presidency from 1977 to 1981.