Former US President Jimmy Carter has decided to receive hospice care and “spend whatever time he has left at home with his family” rather than receiving more medical interventions, the Carter Center said in a statement Saturday.
“He has the full support of his family and medical team. The Carter family requests privacy during this time and is grateful for the concern shown by their many admirers,” the statement continued.
In recent years, the Democrat has suffered from a number of medical problems, including a melanoma that has spread to his liver and brain, although he has responded well to the treatment he received.
Carter, 98, has lived longer after leaving the White House than any former US president in history, having presided from January 1977 to January 1981.
The four years he spent at the helm of the US were marked by internal economic crises and the Iranian hostage crisis, which ended shortly after his departure from the White House. Carter, on the other hand, played a central role in mediating the Camp David Accords that led to the Israeli-Egyptian peace treaty.
Former US President Jimmy Carter, Egyptian counterpart Anwar Sadat and Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin during the signing of the Camp David Accords
The end of his term was dictated by the electoral failure of 1980, at a time when voters turned to his Republican rival, Ronald Reagan.
However, Carter managed to rehabilitate his legacy through work over the next few decades in humanitarian causes. He was often seen with a hammer in hand, building affordable housing as a volunteer with Habitat for Humanity.
He won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2002 in recognition of his “tireless efforts to seek peaceful solutions to international conflicts, to advance democracy and human rights, and to promote economic and social development.