Joey Feek has touched the lives of millions of people, and she is continuing to do so despite her prognosis.
As the Inquisitr previously reported, Joey Feek was diagnosed with stage four cervical cancer in 2014, three months after giving birth to her daughter Indiana (“Indy” for short). To treat the cancer, Joey underwent a radical hysterectomy and rounds of chemotherapy and radiation.
For a while, it seemed as if Joey had beaten the disease. However, in mid-October, her doctors discovered that her cancer had not only returned, but it had spread to her colon. While Joey could continue to undergo chemo and radiation treatments, it would only buy her time, not the cure she had so desperately hoped and prayed for. Therefore, with the help of her family, Joey made the difficult decision to stop treatment and enter hospice care so that she could spend 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 battle on his blog This Life I Live , sharing precious memories, both new and old, with their fans, along with updates on Joey’s condition.
On Monday, November 23, Rory wrote a post titled “manna from heaven,” in which he talked about Indiana’s best friend Scout, who was born with Loeys-Dietz syndrome, a genetic disorder that affects the connective tissue in the body.
“Like our Indiana, Scout is very special,” Rory wrote. “She was born with something called Loeys-Dietz syndrome, a connective-tissue disorder that affects her heart and a thousand other things. Unlike Indy, Scouty has been in and out of hospitals and surgeries since the day she was born.”
Over the past year, Scout has been doing remarkably well and was even able to attend a camp for kids with special needs.
“Until they moved to their farm a mile or so behind ours, their lives were filled with constant fear of having to rush her to Vanderbilt, or worse,” Rory continued. “Thankfully, for the last year or so, Scout has been doing really well. This weekend her parents took her to the Center for Courageous Kids, a camp in Kentucky that pours love and healing into children with special needs.”
Prior to Rory’s post, Scout’s father, Gabe McCauley, had sent him a photo of Scout at the camp riding on a horse.
Gabe’s message read, “Scout can’t wait until Indiana joins her at camp.”
Joey asked Rory to see the picture, and he said you could see in her eyes just how proud she was of Scout. However, Joey’s smile soon turned to tears as she realized that she wouldn’t be here to help Rory raise their little Indiana.
“‘I want to raise our baby,’ she cried, and her tears fell harder… ‘I want to be the one to teach her.’”
Rory went on to talk about their final album, Hymns That Are Important To Us , which is scheduled for release on Valentine’s Day, and what the proceeds of the album would go to. He also referred to Hymns as “Joey’s album.”
“The folks at the record label asked us if we would like to designate a charity that might benefit from a portion of whatever sales of this record we might have,” Rory wrote. “Joey and I talked about it and told them yes. The Loeys-Dietz Syndrome Foundation . In honor of Indiana’s best friend Scout, and all the courageous little ones like her.”
On Monday, November 30, the foundation uploaded a video to YouTube , thanking Joey and Rory for their generosity.
“Behind every research question and every research victory there’s a particular patient name, patient face, patient story that provided the motivation and more importantly the inspiration to do the work in the first place,” the video says while showing photos of Joey, Rory, Indiana, and Scout.
[Photos by Rory Feek/ This Life I Live ]