Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter congratulates newly sworn in citizens in Plains in 2013.

Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter congratulates newly sworn in citizens in Plains in 2013. / The Macon Telegraph

Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter is ready to leave the hospital where he is recovering from brain surgery.

That's what Rev. Tony Lowden, the pastor of Carter's home church of Maranatha Baptist, said from Emory University Hospital Wednesday.

"He told me he was up walking today and he’s talking," Lowden said. "I think he’s just excited about the fact that he’s hopefully getting out of here soon."

 

Carter, who has fallen at least three times this year, had surgery Tuesday to relieve pressure on his brain, the Carter Center said.

He required hip replacement surgery when he fell earlier this year.

PREVIOUS COVERAGE: Former President Jimmy Carter Falls At His Plains Home But Says He 'Feels Fine'

Carter hit his head falling again on Oct. 6 and received 14 stitches, but still traveled to Nashville, Tennessee, to help build a Habitat for Humanity home shortly thereafter. And he was briefly hospitalized after fracturing his pelvis Oct. 21.

Carter also received a dire cancer diagnosis in 2015, announcing that melanoma had spread to his liver and brain. He was treated with radiation and immunotherapy, and later said he was cancer-free.

Nearly four decades after his presidency, and despite a body that's failing after 95 years, the nation's oldest-ever ex-president still teaches Sunday School roughly twice a month at Maranatha Baptist Church in his tiny hometown of Plains in southwest Georgia. His message is unfailingly about Jesus, not himself.

The church has announced that Carter will not be teaching his Sunday school class this week.

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