Joey Feek Cancer Update: Joey Prepares Her Family For Life After Her Death


Joey Feek knows her days on Earth are numbered. Her cancer is continuing to spread aggressively, leaving her thin, weak, and in so much pain that her morphine dose had to be quadrupled to ease her discomfort. Before she goes, however, Joey is making sure her family knows all they need to know to go on with their lives when she is gone.

“As Joey has had to learn to come to terms with what is happening to her body and what the future holds, it’s been important to her to share some things that she wants me and our girls to remember after she’s gone,” Rory Feek told People Magazine during an exclusive interview.

Joey+Rory – “When I’m Gone” from Hickory Films on Vimeo.

“More than once, I have found myself beside her bed taking notes as she shares things like when the best time to plant the garden will be this spring, how to prune the fruit trees and to make sure we still set aside a percentage of what we make as a tithe each month,” Rory continued.

As The Inquisitr previously reported, Joey Feek was diagnosed with stage four cervical cancer in May 2014, three months after giving birth to her daughter Indiana (Indy). Following her diagnosis, Joey underwent a radical hysterectomy and rounds of chemotherapy and radiation. She appeared to be doing better, and was preparing to undergo her final round of chemotherapy in October 2015 when the doctors made a grim discovery. Not only had Joey’s cancer returned, it had spread to other parts of her body, including her colon. Because the cancer was spreading so rapidly and aggressively, there was little to nothing left for her doctors to do.

Joey and Rory Feek santa
Joey Feek and her family visit with Santa and Mrs. Clause
[Photo via This Life I Live]
Joey was left to make the toughest decision of her life: to continue treatment, or say enough is enough. After talking to Rory and her family, Joey chose the latter decision and went home with her husband and daughter to spend her final days with her family in hospice care. Not only has Rory been by his wife every step of the way, Rory’s two daughters from his previous marriage Heidi, 29, and Hopie, 27, have also been there to spend time with their step-mother and their little sister Indy, making memories that will last long after Joey is gone.

“Though Joey didn’t come into their lives until they were teenagers, my girls love her as their mother and she loves them as her own,” Rory said. “They also love their baby sister so much, and they hurt for her and all that Joey is going to miss as she grows up. They have made many trips here from home in Tennessee just to be close to us, spend time with Indy and love on Joey.”

joey feek dying
Joey Feek with her family (Rory, Heidi, Hopie, and Indy)
[Photo via This Life I Live]
Although Joey’s cancer battle is something the family never thought they would have to experience, Rory admits that it has actually brought their family closer together. He said this has been a “beautiful time” for Joey as she has remained surrounded by her family in her hometown of Alexandria, Indiana.

“We are surrounded by Joey’s family here in Indiana and life is a revolving door of sisters, parents and nieces and nephews – all pouring love and time into Joey and our little family,” he says. “Though the situation and conditions that brought us here are very difficult, it has been a really beautiful time for Joey and all of us. Not hardly an hour of the day goes by without someone telling someone else that they love them. It’s hard to ask for more than that.”

To read more about Joey’s battle with cancer, visit Rory’s blog This Life I Live. Rory also keeps their fans updated on their Facebook page.

[Photo by Josh Anderson/Associated Press]

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