The family of former President Jimmy Carter said the 99-year-old is living as best he can in his final days but admitted that he is facing challenges that they believe are portending his According to grandson Jason Carter who spoke with Southern Living Magazine, the elderly Democrat struggles to wake up at all some days now that he is 16 months into hospice care in Plains, Georgia. The public, accustomed to seeing the former president teach Sunday school and assist in the building of homes well into his 90s, is now seeing a different side of his grandfather, Jason said. He added that the death of his wife, former First Lady Rosalynn Carter, in November has taken a toll.

“After 77 years of marriage… I just think none of us really understand what it’s like for him right now,” Jason told Southern Living earlier this month, People Magazine reported. “We have to embrace that fact, that there’s things about the spirit that you just can’t understand.”