Former President Jimmy Carter requires 14 stitches after fall at home, 'feels fine'
Jimmy Carter fell at his Georgia home on Sunday, but after a brief trip to the hospital the 39th president of the U.S. says he "feels fine." The fall did require Carter to get 14 stitches.
"Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter had a fall today at his home in Plains, Georgia, that required stitches above his brow," the Carter Center said in a statement. "He said he feels fine and wanted everyone to know that he and Mrs. Carter are eager to be at Habitat for Humanity's Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter Work Project in Nashville, Tennessee, Oct. 6-11, starting with the opening ceremony this evening."
This is the second fall for the 95-year-old president in recent months. In May, he underwent surgery after breaking his hip while preparing to go turkey hunting at his home.
Carter commented on the fall at the Habitat for Humanity event, explaining, "First of all, I want to explain my black eye. I got up this morning at home in Plains, getting ready to go to church, 'cause right after that we had a family reunion, and then we were coming to Nashville. And I fell down and hit my forehead on a sharp edge, and had to go to the hospital."
"They put 14 stitches in my forehead and my eye is black as you noticed," he added.
He said he had no plans to miss the charity event, though: "I had a No. 1 priority, and that was to come to Nashville to build houses."
Carter was also diagnosed with metastatic melanoma in his liver in 2015 that had spread to his brain. Carter announced about six months after the diagnosis that he no longer needed cancer treatment.
He turned 95 on Tuesday. He has already lived longer than any other president in U.S. history.
Carter served as governor of Georgia from 1971 to 1975 and then defeated Gerald Ford in the 1976 presidential election. He would serve just one term, however, losing to Ronald Reagan in the 1980 race. He also faced a tough fight from the left in the form of Ted Kennedy.
He was defeated in a landslide, 489-49 in the electoral college, and carried just six states and Washington, D.C.
The former president left politics after losing his reelection bid and threw himself into charity work. He started the Carter Center in that pursuit and has been the leading face of Habitat for Humanity for decades.
He has been married to wife Rosalynn for 73 years,
