The Secret Service agency offered words of comfort to former President Jimmy Carter following the announcement that he will receive hospice care at home.
The Carter Center released a statement on Saturday announcing that the former president decided to forgo “additional medical intervention” and receive care at home. In response, Secret Service spokesman Anthony Guglielmi put out a statement on behalf of the agency, which has protected Carter and his family for decades.
FORMER PRESIDENT JIMMY CARTER TO ‘SPEND HIS REMAINING TIME’ IN HOSPICE CARE
“Rest easy Mr. President. We will be forever by your side,” Guglielmi wrote in a Tweet on Saturday.
Carter, at age 98, is the longest-lived American president. He served a single term from 1977 to 1981 in the wake of the Vietnam War and the Watergate scandal that led to President Richard Nixon’s departure from office.
He was defeated in 1980 by Republican President Ronald Reagan. Still, Carter went on to dedicate decades of his life to global advocacy for public health and human rights, per the Carter Center.
Carter and his wife, Rosalynn Carter, have been married for more than 75 years, making them the longest-married presidential couple in American history.
The former president has undergone a series of short hospital stays recently after being diagnosed with cancer in 2015 that spread from his liver to his brain. In 2019, he had brain surgery after experiencing pressure in his head from multiple falls, per Fox News.
On Tuesday, the center released a statement announcing Carter’s transition to home hospice care.
“After a series of short hospital stays, former U.S. President Jimmy Carter today decided to spend his remaining time at home with his family and receive hospice care instead of additional medical intervention,” the center wrote. “He has the full support of his family and his medical team. The Carter family asks for privacy during this time and is grateful for the concern shown by his many admirers.”
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Several politicians and high profile organization heads have expressed their condolences and support for Carter following his decision to receive remaining care at home.
“Across life’s seasons, President Jimmy Carter, a man of great faith, has walked with God. In this tender time of transitioning, God is surely walking with him,” U.S. Sen. Raphael Warnock (D-GA) said in a Tweet. “May he, Rosalynn & the entire Carter family be comforted with that peace and surrounded by our love & prayers.”
