Jimmy Carter’s Son Jeff Has Been Living with Parkinson’s: Exclusive

Jeff Carter, the youngest of Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter’s three sons, has been quietly navigating life with Parkinson’s disease.

Jeff, 72, has known about his diagnosis for some time, his son Josh tells PEOPLE, but has refrained from making public statements.

“We know that [Parkinson’s] is a one-way street,” Josh, 40, says. “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.”

Jeff moved into a new home nearly a decade ago, and made sure it was wheelchair-accessible in case he ever needed to use one. It’s the kind of foresight that comes with being part of a family that has decades of experience with caregiving.

“We’re going into this with eyes wide open knowing that we’re going to have more and more responsibilities going on, and it’s just got to be a part of life,” Josh says.

Jeff — whose wife, Annette Davis Carter, died in 2021 — has ample experience acting as a caregiver for loved ones, as have many people in the Carter family.

His mother-in-law, Dorothy Davis, previously battled severe memory loss after a stroke, leading the whole family to step in as caregivers. His grandson, Jonathan — Josh’s youngest son — was diagnosed with a rare and chronic intestinal disorder as an infant that put financial and emotional strain on the family. And when Jeff’s parents, Jimmy and Rosalynn, entered hospice care in 2023, he and his siblings agreed that a loved one would stay with the former first couple at all times.

Josh revealed his father’s diagnosis during a panel discussion with PEOPLE editor-in-chief Wendy Naugle at the United Nations’ International Day of Older Persons celebration on Monday, Oct. 7, saying that though Jeff has continued showing support for Jimmy more than a year and a half into the former president’s hospice care, he has been limited in his ability to visit due to his own medical planning.

Josh sat down with PEOPLE for a one-on-one conversation moments after the event, where he offered more context on his father’s experience.

“He’s not very open about it because he doesn’t want to be the face of anything,” Josh says. “It’s just, Parkinson’s sucks. It’s a hard disease. It’s a hard diagnosis.”

Jeff has been able to manage his symptoms with deep brain stimulation therapy, which required getting two battery-powered electrodes surgically implanted in specific areas of his brain that manage movement. The electrodes come with a remote control.

“He can literally control his brain with his iPhone, which is wild,” Josh explains. “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.”

The technology has allowed Jeff to have more “high quality” time with family. “He’s able to play with my kids, he’s able to play with his other grandkids,” Josh says. “So, it’s really fortunate to be in this wave of technology.”

Jeff had three sons with Annette — Josh, Jeremy and James — and he now has four grandchildren. His middle son, Jeremy, died suddenly in 2015 at the age of 28.

Josh, now a spokesperson for the Rosalynn Carter Institute for Caregivers, has spoken openly about his family’s health challenges and the toll that can come with taking care of a loved one. He is carrying on the legacy of his late grandmother, Rosalynn, who dedicated a large portion of her career advocating for family caregivers to have more support.

After Josh’s youngest son was diagnosed with very early onset inflammatory bowel disease — a potentially fatal condition that is now under control — he and his wife, Sarah, founded The VEO-IBD Foundation, “the first and only organization dedicated to parents and caregivers of children that have this disease.”

At Monday’s U.N. event, a new documentary clip about Josh’s caregiving experience premiered, where he shares more about his journey. The video is part of a months-long national awareness campaign by Washington, D.C.-based public broadcasting station WETA, and was produced in partnership with Bradley Cooper’s Lea Pictures production company and Ark Media.