Joey Feek Cancer Update: Rory Explains The Importance Of The Plus Sign In Joey + Rory

Joey Feek is nearing the end of her battle with terminal cancer, and as she peacefully sleeps in the next room, her husband and duet partner is spending his time reflecting on their short life together.

Since Joey Feek was diagnosed with stage four cervical cancer in May, 2014, Rory has been keeping their fans updated on Joey’s condition on his blog This Life I Live. He shares frequent posts recalling past and present memories, along with heartwarming photos of Joey spending precious moments with their daughter, Indiana (Indy). On Thursday, January 28, Rory shared a post titled “the power of a plus-sign” in which he explained why they went with “Joey + Rory” rather than “Joey and Rory.”

After Joey and Rory Feek placed third in the CMT singing competition Can You Duet in 2008, they were asked what their stage name was going to be. Rory said he told Joey he thought they should use a plus sign instead of simply the word “and.”

“When we found out we had made it through the first round of auditions, they asked us what our stage name was going to be. I told Joey that I think we should tell them “Joey+Rory”, because that’s what it actually was…” Rory wrote. “You + Me = whatever this is going to be. She agreed. And though it might have been a bit confusing to others, the plus-sign made sense to us, and that’s all that mattered. And so our career singing together started off with a bang.”

While Rory said the plus sign was originally intended to mean “You + Me,” he said he has realized over the years that it actually means much more than that; it’s not simply the addition of Joey + Rory, but the addition of everything that has happened, and everyone who has entered their lives.

“Without knowing it, what we were actually adding into the equation that day in 2008… was God,” Rory continued. “It was faith that we added – a willingness to trust Him and be okay with whatever He had in store. I think that’s where the power is. There’s nothing magical about Joey and I together. We bring our skills and talents into this union, but God brings the magic. He takes those gifts and adds in His timing and mixes it with all the years of joy and hardship and smiles and pain we’ve had… and He makes something bigger. Something better.”

As the Inquisitr previously reported, Joey Feek was diagnosed with end stage cancer in 2014, just three months after she welcomed her daughter, Indiana. At the advice of her doctors, Joey later underwent a radical hysterectomy and several rounds of chemotherapy and radiation. Joey appeared to be doing better, and was preparing to undergo her last round of chemo in October of 2015 when her doctors made a grim discovery — Joey’s cancer had not only returned, it had spread to other parts of her body including her colon. Joey still had the option of undergoing chemo and radiation, but she was told it would only buy her time, not the cure she had so desperately hoped and prayed for. Because of this realization, Joey made the heartbreaking decision to stop treatment and enter hospice care so she could live out the remainder of her life surrounded by her friends and family.

Now, nearly four months later, Joey’s condition is worsening. She’s very thin and weak, and in so much pain that her morphine dose had to be quadrupled over the past few weeks. She can no longer walk, and she spends her days sleeping in her hospice bed. Rory knows that the time he has left with his wife is short, and while he admits he cannot imagine going back to Tennessee without Joey, he continues to have faith in God.

“I cannot even begin to imagine going home to Tennessee without Joey, or living my life and raising Indy without her… but chances are, that day is coming,” Rory wrote. “Joey and I both have questions. Lots of them. Hard questions that we don’t have any answers for. But still, we have faith – we choose to believe. I think that’s why they call it faith. If we knew all the answers, no faith would be required. And so Joey and I do our best each day to only see the plus’s in our life.”

[Photo via This Life I Live]