OAN’s Roy Francis
11:20 AM – Tuesday, May 30, 2023
Former First Lady Rosalynn Carter has been diagnosed with dementia according to the Carter Center which made the announcement on Tuesday.
The Carter Center released a statement which announced her diagnosis, saying that “she continues to live happily at home with her husband.”
“The Carter family is sharing that former First Lady Rosalynn Carter has dementia,” the statement read. “She continues to live happily at home with her husband, enjoying spring in Plains and visits with loved ones.”
The statement went on to recognize Carter’s advocacy for mental health “more than half a century ago,” and that in sharing the news about Carter’s diagnosis it helped to “increase important conversations” across the nation.
“We recognize, as she did more than half a century ago,” the statement continued. “That stigma is often a barrier that keeps individuals and their families from seeking and getting much-needed support. We hope sharing our family’s news will increase important conversations at kitchen tables and in doctor’s offices around the country.”
Carter’s husband, former President Jimmy Carter, 98, has been in hospice care since February following a series of short hospital stays.
The Carters, who got married in 1946, are the longest-married presidential couple in United States history. Notably, Jimmy Carter is the oldest living former president and the longest-lived former president in U.S. history as well. The couple had founded the Carter Center in Georgia in 1982 after Carter had lost the reelection to Ronald Reagan.
Jason Carter, the couple’s grandson, spoke about them at an event in Norcross, Georgia last week, which was held to honor the former president.
“They’re coming to the end,” their grandson said. “He’s going to be 99 in October, but right now, it’s sort of the perfect way for them to spend these last days together at home in Plains. They’re together, and they’ve been together for 70-plus years.”
According to Alzheimer’s Association, dementia “is a general term for loss of memory, language, problem-solving and other thinking abilities that are severe enough to interfere with daily life.”
The Carter Center did not provide any further details.
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