The unthinkable is being thought among those close to Jimmy Carter.

The former president, who entered hospice care 16 months ago, may make it to his 100th birthday on Oct. 1. Some are making plans to mark the occasion.

Among them is Jill Stuckey, a family friend and superintendent of the Jimmy Carter National Historical Park in the former president’s hometown. She said she visits with him nearly every day.

“I think he is going to make it to 100,” Stuckey said. “I don’t know that he is saying that, ‘I’m going to live to 100.’ But I do know there is will to live in all of us, and I think he has that same will.”

When Carter entered hospice care in February of last year, doctors told the family he might have only days to live.

About 500 days have passed since then.

Carter has outlived Rosalynn Carter, his wife of 77 years, who entered hospice nine months after he did and died in November. The former president hasn’t made a public appearance since her funeral. Instead, he remains inside the couple’s modest home in Plains in south Georgia. Still, he cast a mail-in ballot for the primary election in May.

He has already lived longer than any U.S. president in history.

Recognitions for Carter’s centennial include a 100-mile community bicycle ride in his home county and a free film festival in Atlanta organized by the Jimmy Carter Presidential Library and Museum.

“We have always planned to celebrate the 100th anniversary of his birth, and it just makes it even more special that he is still with us,” said Tony Clark, a spokesperson for the Atlanta-based library.

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