Jimmy Carter's youngest son Jeff's Parkinson's diagnosis announced days after former president's 100th birthday
By Beatriz Colon,
3 hours ago
Jimmy and his wife Rosalynn prior to the game between the Atlanta Falcons and the Cincinnati Bengals at Mercedes-Benz Stadium on September 30, 2018 (Scott Cunningham)
Jimmy Carter's youngest son has been battling with some health issues of his own.
Donnel "Jeff" Carter , one of three sons of the former president, who marked his milestone 100th birthday last week, has been living with Parkinson's disease for the last several years.
His son Josh confirmed the news to People , sharing: "We know that [Parkinson's] is a one-way street," though noted: "My dad is currently living by himself, he's able to take care of himself, he's independent, but he built his house knowing that one day he's going to need more help."
Though it appears it is a diagnosis Jeff received several years ago, news of it comes as his father has gained renewed attention not only for becoming the first president of the United States to turn a century old on October 2, but as he approaches his second year in hospice care.
About Jeff's penchant for privacy concerning the diagnosis, his son explained: "He's not very open about it because he doesn't want to be the face of anything," and that: "It's just, Parkinson's sucks. It's a hard disease. It's a hard diagnosis."
Josh's mom, Jeff's wife Annette Davis Carter, died aged 68 in 2021, though a cause of death was not disclosed.
Further detailing his father's experience with Parkinson's, Josh shared that deep brain stimulation therapy has been a huge help in him managing his symptoms, which, per People, "required getting two battery-powered electrodes surgically implanted in specific areas of his brain that manage movement."
"He can literally control his brain with his iPhone, which is wild," he revealed, before explaining: "Without his therapy, he's basically not able to do anything. And then when he turns his therapy back on with his phone, then he can stand up, he can walk around, he can hold a drink without spilling it, he can eat, he can communicate. It's a night and day shift."
Carter, in addition to a former president is a renowned humanitarian, and his wife, who passed away after a battle with dementia last year, were married for 77 years. They met when Rosalynn was only days old, after Carter's mother, who was Rosalynn's mother's delivery nurse, brought him to meet her in their hometown of Plains, Georgia, where he still lives, in the home he and his wife built in the 1960s.
In addition to Jeff, they also shared kids Jack , 77, James , 74, Amy , 56, as well as 22 grandchildren and great-grandchildren combined.
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