While former President Jimmy Carter tries to make it to 100 years old, his youngest son Jeff announced that he has been living for some time with Parkinson's Disease.

Jeff Carter had not gone public about the disease until People Magazine first reported on it in a piece on Tuesday.

"He's not very open about it because he doesn't want to be the face of anything," his son Josh, 40, continued at the United Nations' International Day of Older Persons celebration on Monday.

"It's just, Parkinson's sucks. It's a hard disease. It's a hard diagnosis."

"One-way street"

Josh said his dad is still living alone and taking care of himself for now.

"He built his house knowing someday he's going to need more help," Josh Carter said.

"We know that Parkinson's is a one-way street," he added.

He said that his father has been getting deep brain stimulation treatments to help with the symptoms and improve his functionality with the disease.

"He can literally control his brain with his iPhone, which is wild. Without his therapy, he's basically not able to do anything," Josh said.

"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," he continued. "It's a night and day shift."

Carter hanging on

Jimmy Carter went into hospice in 2023 believing he only had days to live, but just turned 100 a few days ago.

Before his birthday, he expressed a wish to live long enough to vote for Democrat presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris.

Harris has called the former president several times and the two reportedly have formed a "kinship."

Carter has not appeared in public since the funeral of his wife Rosalynn Carter almost a year ago. After a low period, his grandson said he "perked up" and "re-engaged with the world."