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Joey Feek Cancer Update: RFD-TV To Honor Joey And Rory On Thanksgiving

By Lindsay McCane
Published on: 01:30 PST, Nov 21, 2015

Thanksgiving is a time for families to come together and celebrate everything they have to be thankful for. This year, the country music duo Joey and Rory are thankful that Joey is still alive and able to celebrate the holidays.

As the Inquisitr previously reported, 40-year-old Joey Feek has been battling a vicious battle with cervical cancer since she was diagnosed last year. She underwent a radical hysterectomy and rounds of chemotherapy and radiation. Joey and her doctors believed she had beat the disease, but in mid-October her doctors made a grim discovery. Joey’s cancer had not only returned, but had spread to her colon. Because there was nothing left to do medically, Joey decided to stop treatment and enter hospice care, where she could spend the rest of her days with her family and friends. Rory has since been documenting his wife’s journey on his blog titled This Life I Live.

In 2008, Joey and Rory won the CMT singing competition Can You Duet, which sent their careers skyrocketing. They later landed their own reality television show called The Joey + Rory Show, which aired on RFD-TV. The show ran for two seasons and stole the hearts of millions.

“Though she gets her singing talent from her mama, Joey’s stunning voice is often compared to her heroes Emmylou Harris and Dolly Parton, for it’s beautiful warmth and sincerity,” the show’s website reads. “A true homemaker at heart, when she’s not on the road touring with her husband, you’ll either find her in her garden growing fresh vegetables to serve to her family or serving customers with her sister, Marcy, at the small country diner “Marcy Jo’s Mealhouse.”

To honor the inspirational couple, RFD-TV announced that they would be running an all-day marathon of TheJoey + Rory Show on Thanksgiving starting at 9:00 a.m. ET and ending at 2:00 p.m. ET. Later that night, at 7:30 p.m. ET, the network will air a special called To Joey + Rory With Love to celebrate Joey’s life and musical career.

RFD-TV also encouraged fans of Joey and Rory to comment on their Facebook or Twitter accounts, or to send them letters addressed to the Feek family. They said they will make sure they arrive at their home in Tennessee. Below is the address to send the letters.

RFD-TV: Attn: Joey Feek
49 Music Square West, Ste 301
Nashville, TN 37203

RFD-TV is not the only one taking the time to honor the couple. Fans of the country music duo have been coming together in a new online campaign to get their touching song “When I’m Gone” to the No. 1 spot on the iTunes chart. The song, which was written by Joey’s friend Sandy Lawrence, tells the story of a wife telling her husband that he will be okay when she is gone.

“I was devastated, absolutely devastated when I heard it and what it meant and coming from the person who is leaving their loved one,” Joey Feek told the Boot during a 2012 interview. “That concept was just something that I had never heard or thought of before, and it really struck me.”

Because the song was so important to her dear friend, Joey said it only seemed fitting for her to be a part of the music video, so they decided to have her play the piano.

“She [Sandy] wrote that song by herself and she wrote it about her mother who was dying. She was watching her mother pass, and she was so badly needing her mother to tell her those words,” Joey explained. “She needed affirmation that everything was going to be okay after her mom died and she wasn’t able to get it from her, but she wanted to write this to leave to her son and to her husband and to let them know that if anything were to ever happen, everything is going to be okay when I’m gone.”

“It just knocked me out. When we recorded it, it was just magical. She came in while we were recording it in the studio and then I had her sing the harmony vocals on it with Rory and then when we shot the music video, it just seemed so fitting that she played the piano.”

Little did Joey know, that just two short years later, “When I’m Gone” would be the words she would be saying to her husband. While Joey Feek may not have long to live, the couple has vowed to live out each day together and put their faith in God.

[Photo by Rick Diamond/Getty Images]

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