Jimmy Carter honored with lifetime achievement award as he nears his 100th birthday amid health issues

Jimmy Carter honored with lifetime achievement award as he nears his 100th birthday amid health issues
Former US president Jimmy Carter is an avid book enthusiast (Getty Images)

WASHINGTON, DC: Former president Jimmy Carter has been honored with a lifetime achievement award by Dayton Literary Peace Prize.

The Democratic leader, who’ll be soon turning 100, was reportedly going through health issues of late.

ATLANTA, GA - AUGUST 20:  Former President Jimmy Carter discusses his cancer diagnosis during a pres
Jimmy Carter will be celebrating his 100th birthday on October 1, 2024 (Getty Images)

Jimmy Carter's grandson Jason provides update on former president's health

On the latest update on Jimmy Carter’s health, Jason Carter said, “He’s remarkably, basically, in the same position he’s been in since he went into hospice,” referring to his 19 months in home hospice care. 

“… And when he went into hospice, we thought it was a matter of days, weeks, really. And, of course, we’re not in charge. But …what I can tell you is, he is still experiencing this world,” the grandson added, during a meeting at the Carter Center in Atlanta, per AJC Politics.

Jason earlier shared that the former president “has really physically diminished and can’t do much on his own, but he is emotionally engaged and still having experiences and laughing lovingly,” reported WALB.

LONDON, ENGLAND - FEBRUARY 3: Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter receives delivers a lecture on the
Jimmy Carter wrote 32 books despite busy political career (Getty Images)

Jimmy Carter's response to winning lifetime achievement award

After being awarded the peace prize by Ohio City, Jason Carter shared the ex-president's reaction with NPR, “He's proud of many accomplishments, but he really considers himself an author probably fundamentally these days, and so he was really, really excited to be recognized."

“You know, he's been in hospice for 19 months, which some of us didn't even know was possible. But he's still experiencing the world, and he's still gratified by things like this,” the grandson added.

Carter, who has written 32 books in total, is a passionate writer, according to Jason, “He has written them from the heart. He's written them about topics that are important to him. My favorites are ones about his early life because it's such a window into this remarkable transformation of the world over the last hundred years."

"But I think fundamentally, he's written about peace in a variety of contexts, and that's why this award is a special one for him,” Jason observed.

"He spent an enormous amount of time writing. As you know, in the second stage or act of his life, as he was traveling the world with the Carter Center, he spent a lot of time on airplanes. He wrote a lot on the airplane," Jason explained.

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