Ray of light. Country singer Rory Feek posted a new photo via Facebook on Friday, Dec. 11, of his terminally ill wife, Joey Feek, smiling and playing with their little girl inside their home.
“It’s 60 and sunny outside today and even brighter inside,” Rory wrote, alongside a pic of his ailing wife beaming at the camera as she sits cross-legged on the floor in their home in Columbia, Tenn. Joey holds up a painting of an animal for their young daughter, India, 23 months, who laughs with glee. “Joey’s out of bed teaching signs to Indy on the floor,” Rory concluded in his post.
The country duo have inspired millions through their Facebook updates and Rory’s moving blog, This Life I Live, which has detailed his wife’s struggle with stage IV cervical cancer since she was diagnosed in 2014. This past October, Joey stopped her chemotherapy treatments and entered hospice care.
In his last blog post, Rory wrote about what’s likely his last Christmas with his wife. “Joey’s still feeling pretty good. Really good actually,” he wrote in the update on Dec. 4. “We’ve been able to keep her pain under control for the most part and her spirit is just as positive as ever. Even more so here lately. We moved Joey and us to a bigger house here this past Sunday. Indy and I had been living out of a suitcase and needed a little more room and this place has a big picture window in the bedroom so Joey can look out and see white geese and black swans swimming in the pond and deer walking down the path. It’s amazing.”
Rory thanked their local community for their unending support. “We have a Christmas tree and some decorations up and thanks to the nice folks at Pizza King, it’s starting to feel like Christmas,” he said of the local restaurant. “And not just any Christmas – a very special Christmas – one that we’ll never forget.”
In a previous update last month, Rory said the timeline for his wife’s cancer is out of their hands. “I’ve since heard that it’s not uncommon for people to be on hospice for 6 months, or longer,” he wrote at the time. “And so that’s where we are. A hospice nurse comes once or twice a week and she helps to make sure that Joey’s pain is under control – that her morphine drip is working properly — and to see if she and we, her caregivers, need anything. But God chooses the appointed time. Not us. Not hospice. My wife is strong. Very very strong. So is her will to live. Especially with a little one who gets excited every morning to see her.”
The two have another reason to celebrate this season: On Monday, Dec. 7, the couple received a Grammy nod for their single, “If I Need You,” in the category for Best Country Duo/Group Performance category.
“Woke my bride up this morning with a baby in my arms and the news that our version of ‘If I Needed You’ was nominated for a Grammy,” Rory shared on Facebook. “As her excitement and tears flowed into mine. She said, ‘How can that be?’ The song received no radio airplay…no press… no critical acclaim… and the only music video we made for it was to celebrate the day our little Indiana was born.”
