Since Joey Feek was diagnosed with cancer two years ago, her fans have offered their unwavering support, sending their well wishes as well as cards and gifts, anything to brighten her day.
On Saturday, February 6, one fan left a special surprise for Joey on the hood of Rory’s car while he and his 23-month-old daughter Indiana (Indy) were in the grocery store — a carton of eggs. Sounds strange, right? Well, not if you know Joey.
On Thursday, Rory shared a post on his blog This Life I Live, revealing Joey’s favorite past time: gardening. Joey has always loved to garden, and hasn’t stopped just because she is battling terminal cancer. Over the past few weeks, Rory said, Joey has been having him and her family members save their empty egg shells so she can sow her seeds in them to prepare them to be planted outside.
Joey Feek spending her time gardening from her hospice bed
[Photo via This Life I Live][/caption]
“In years past, it’s not unusual for me to walk in the house and find our kitchen table completely filled with seed packets, potting soil and egg cartons… and Joey grinning ear-to-ear, truly in her element,” Rory wrote. “Joey likes to plant some of seedlings in clear divided-containers she gets from the store, but her first choice is to use natural containers that the good Lord has provided.”
So, when Joey and Indy came out from inside the store, Rory knew exactly what the carton of eggs were for. He shared a photo of the gift on Facebook and captioned it by saying, “..my eggstraordinary, ordinary life. Indy and I came out from the grocery store this morning and found these on the hood of my truck. Guessing they’ll be filled with Joey’s seedlings in the next week or so.”
Fan leaves special gift for Joey on the hood of Rory’s truck while he grocery shops with Indiana
[Photo via This Life I Live][/caption]
Rory said his wife has been planting a garden each year for as long as he can remember. He said she obviously enjoys doing it, but it’s also something more to her.
“She does it because it’s important to her,” Rory said. “Planting a garden and raising food that she can feed her family is part of who Joey is. That doesn’t stop just because you have cancer or are stuck in a bed for months-on-end. Life goes on. And what was important, is still important to her. I love that about my wife. That, and a million other things.”
“Joey knows what matters most,” Rory continued. “From the day I met her, I knew that. She wasn’t like me… where what seemed most important changed from day to day or seemed to shift with what was on my mind or how full my plate was at the time. She knew what was important – what was really important… down in her heart of hearts. And she acted on it. She still does.”
Joey and Indy work on preparing her seeds
[Photo via This Life I Live][/caption]
Joey knows her days on Earth are numbered. As the Inquisitr previously reported, Joey was diagnosed with stage four cervical cancer in May 2014, three months after giving birth to Indy. Although she later underwent a radical hysterectomy and several rounds of chemotherapy and radiation, the cancer returned and started spreading to other parts of her body, including her colon. After discussing her options with her doctors and family, Joey decided to stop treatment in October 2015 and enter hospice care.
Each day, Joey becomes thinner and weaker. She can no longer walk or get out of bed, and she spends the majority of her days peacefully sleeping. However, before she’s gone, Joey is making sure Rory knows how to care for her garden.
“I take notes in my laptop, but I don’t really want to know,” Rory wrote. “Not really. I just want her to be able to be in the garden – this year and twenty more after it. I want her to be able to weed and water and hoe and harvest, and to be able to can and freeze the fruit of her labor and feel the pride that she’s felt in the past at knowing that “these sweet potatoes and beans and tomatoes are from our land”…from her hands. That’s what I really want.”
[Photo by Richard Vogel/ Associated Press]