Joey Feek Cancer Update: Joey And Rory Agree To Share ‘The Good, The Bad, And The Beautiful’

Joey Feek of the country music duo Joey and Rory is getting weaker, but she is still clinging to hope for a miracle.

As the Inquisitr previously reported, Joey Feek was diagnosed with stage four cervical cancer last year, three months after she gave birth to daughter Indiana. She later underwent a radical hysterectomy and several rounds of radiation and chemotherapy. Although it seemed as though Joey had beaten the disease, in mid-October, the doctors discovered that her cancer had not only returned but had spread to her colon. Because there was nothing left for them to do, Joey made the toughest decision of her life: to return to her home in hospice care to live out her final days, however many that may be, with her family.

Since Joey’s diagnosis, her husband and duet partner Rory Feek has been documenting her intense battle on his blog, This Life I Live. In his most recent post “braver than me,” Rory updated their fans on Joey’s condition and revealed their decision to share “the good, the bad, and the beautiful.”

Rory started his post by admitting that he is “fiercely protective” of his wife and said he has always been careful about what and how much he shares about their story. Although he believes Joey is as beautiful as she has ever been, Joey doesn’t always think so.

“Like any woman, my wife is self-conscious about what cancer has done to her,” Rory wrote. “Who she sees in the mirror these days looks like someone else… not the woman that she feels like she is inside. And it hurts her deeply.”

“I know that. So, I carefully choose what I share. It would break my heart to have the thousands of ‘before’ photos out there of her looking beautiful and healthy all these years… be replaced in people’s minds and hearts by a single ‘after’ photo of what cancer has done.”

Several days ago, Rory writes, Joey asked him to sit down and talk to her. She asked him many questions about what people were saying about her, and Rory said he did his best to answer them as honestly as he could.

“I told her. I told her what was happening,” he said. “At least what I thought seemed to be happening. That somehow, people – a lot of people – have been following her story. Our story. And how she was inspiring others with her courage. And how what I’ve been writing has been encouraging others in ways too.”

That is when the couple decided to talk about how much was too much for them to share. What topics were off the table and what topics were too personal to share with the world.

“It’s like questioning God about the twists and turns he’s brought into our life in the last few years… and asking Him ‘how much is too much?’ Sometimes I feel like shouting, ‘we get it God… you’re in control. Life is fragile and all we have is today.’ But He just keeps bringing more story and more pain, and more beauty… all at the exact same time,” Rory wrote.

“So together, we made some decisions. This is our life. It’s what He has given us to live. And share.

“Sharing what we’re going through with others is really all we have to give. If you share what you’re going through with me… maybe I’ll be able to draw something good from it if I am one day in your shoes.”

Although Joey’s prognosis doesn’t look good and the country music singer can no longer get out of bed, Joey still clings to hope and remains strong in her faith. Her time in hospice has been a roller coaster; some days she is like her old self and feeling like she is gradually getting better, then the next she’s so tired that she sleeps the days away.

“For the most part, Joey’s time on hospice so far has been a roller coaster,” Rory wrote. “One moment her light is very dim and she sleeps all the time and is struggling with the simplest of things. And we (along with the doctors and hospice) believe that the time must be very near.”

“And then, she’ll awaken one day and start talking and we’ll see that familiar spark in her eye. And she will be so crystal-clear with her thoughts, we will gather in the next room and say, ‘maybe, just maybe…?'”

While Joey and Rory’s journey hasn’t been easy, the couple has decided to continue to share their story with their fans, continuing to inspire them with their unwavering faith that a miracle could happen.

“She wants to do this right, or not do it at all… to share the good, the bad, and the beautiful. And so we will.”

[Photo by Chris Pizzello/Associated Press]