MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) - Jimmy Carter resumed his role as Habitat for Humanity's most prominent booster on Monday, donning a white hard hat and a worn leather belt stocked with his own tools to hammer and saw with other volunteers building a home in Memphis, Tennessee.
"We haven't cut back on my schedule yet," Carter said, seeming invigorated during an Associated Press interview. "I know it's going to come, particularly if my cancer progresses, but we don't yet know what the result will be from the treatments."
The former president celebrated his 91st birthday in October, and is undergoing treatment on cancer found in his liver and brain. But he was sure-footed on the construction site as he moved from one task to another.
Arriving ahead of schedule, Carter installed a hammer, measuring tape and thick pencil on his tool belt. Then he helped place pre-framed walls, hammered nails into place and sawed boards into smaller pieces, occasionally shouting questions or suggestions at the rest of the crew.
His wife, Rosalynn Carter, 88, hammered brackets to secure the walls, pulling the nails from her own leather tool belt. "Hard work," she said with a soft laugh.
Carter and the Atlanta-based charity have been practically synonymous for more than 30 years.