Joey + Rory’s Joey Feek says final goodbyes, goes into deep sleep

Shortly after giving birth to her daughter Indiana in 2014, country singer Joey Feek, who makes up one half of the husband and wife duo, Joey + Rory, was diagnosed with cervical cancer. Feek has taken a turn for the worse lately and her husband Rory has documented Feek’s final months in his This Life I Live blog. Rory has written that his wife has said her final goodbyes to their family and has gone into a deep sleep from which she is not expected to awaken.

“Joey has done all she set out to do… even right to the very end, and by sheer will-power (and God’s grace), she was still here to to see our baby’s 2nd birthday. Over the last number of weeks her pain had gotten worse and her health had continued to decline rapidly. And not long after Indy’s birthday my wife decided that ‘enough is enough’. She was ready to stop fighting and she told me so. She said the flowers would soon be blooming back in Tennessee. It’s time to go home,” Rory writes in a post titled “One Last Kiss.”

He continues, “Joey gathered her family together around her and she said goodbye to each of them… to her mother and father and her three sisters. There were lots of tears as she explained to each one how much she loved them and that she was going to be going home soon. That her time here was done and she was going to go to sleep soon. And then she asked me to bring our baby in. And so… I set our little Indy on Joey’s lap and we all cried with my wife as she told her how much her mama loved her and, “…you be a big girl for your papa… and that mama will be watching over you”. And then she pulled Indiana up and she kissed her.

“My wife has been asleep for days now and her body is shutting down quickly.  The hospice nurse came again this morning and said Joey will most-likely only be with us for a few more days… at the most.

A few more days… In the 40 short years that Joey has lived, my bride has accomplished many great things… she’s lived a very full life.  But even more than that, she has loved those around her greatly and been loved greatly in return.  I can honestly say that Joey’s isn’t just a life well-lived, it’s a life well-loved.”

Last year, the couple decided to end treatment for Joey’s stage four cancer in which she had undergone surgery, chemotherapy and radiation. She moved to in home hospice care late last year after doctors said there was nothing more they could do.

Despite Joey’s sickness, the pair have remained positive and kept their faith in God. Rory states that neither is upset about Joey’s condition.

“She wants to be remembered as a singer of songs. A devoted wife. A loving mother. Not a cancer patient.

And so I have tried to be very careful. To honor her.”

The Grammy-nominated duo has scored a No. 1 album with their Hymns That Are Important To Us album that was released by Gaither Music Group on February 12th. The 13 song recording, produced by Rory and Joe West (except “When I’m Gone,” which was produced by Gary Paczosa), also topped the Contemporary Christian Album chart, while the Hymns That Are Important To Us video landed at the No. 1 spot on the Billboard Music Video chart and on the Christian Video chart. In addition, the audio recording took the No. 4 spot on last week’s Billboard Top 200 chart.

The new recording holds the February Spotlight for Cracker Barrel Old Country Store and is available there as a deluxe edition including never-before-seen photos of Joey + Rory and their family, a magnet, lyrics, excerpts and stories from Rory’s blog, and a closer look into the couple’s journey creating the album together during a life-changing year.

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Buddy Iahn
Buddy Iahn

Buddy Iahn founded The Music Universe when he decided to juxtapose his love of web design and music. As a lifelong drummer, he decided to take a hiatus from playing music to report it. The website began as a fun project in 2013 to one of the top independent news sites. Email: info@themusicuniverse.com