INDIANAPOLIS — Joey Feek gathered her family. Told them she loved them. And that she would be going soon, because "the flowers would soon be blooming back in Tennessee."
She's ready to go home.
Joey Feek, half of country music duo Joey + Rory and an Indiana native, is still alive. But, according to a blog post from her husband, Rory Feek, she has been asleep for several days. "...her body is shutting down quickly," he wrote Monday. "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."
He wrote that his wife “has done all she set out to do” and that by sheer willpower and God’s grace she lived to see their daughter, Indiana, turn 2 years old in February. But she told him she is ready to stop fighting.
“Over the last number of weeks her pain had gotten worse and her health had continued to decline rapidly,” Rory Feek wrote. “And not long after Indy’s birthday my wife decided that ‘enough is enough.’ "
But most of the blog post is not about Joey's death. It's about her life. It's about her love of country singer George Strait, and how just meeting her idol wasn't quite enough — she needed to earn his respect, too. It's about Joey's deep faith in God and Rory's confusion that she would choose him as her "cowboy."
Joey Feek was first diagnosed with cervical cancer in June 2014. She stopped treatment in October and was given six to nine months to live. She returned from Tennessee to her childhood home near Alexandria, Ind., for hospice care.
Joey Feek wanted to spend the rest of her time surrounded by her parents and three sisters where she grew up. And recently, she met with each of them and told them goodbye.
“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,” Rory Feek wrote. “That her time here was done and she was going to go to sleep soon.”
Joey reached her goal of living to see the Grammys, though the duo lost to Little Big Town in the best duo/group country vocal performance category. And now, she sleeps.
Just before she fell into slumber, Joey had her daughter, Indiana, brought to her. Joey said she loved her. Asked her to remember, “…You be a big girl for your papa ... and that mama will be watching over you.” Rory wrote, "And then she pulled Indiana up and she kissed her.
"One last kiss."
Rory Feek wrote, “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.”
Rory Feek thanked fans for following their story and for their thoughts and prayers. And he said that while the end is near, it’s also a new beginning.
“When Joey takes her last breath here … she will take her first breath there. In Heaven.”
Rory said that when she dies, Joey will be buried in her family plot behind the farmhouse, where the horses she loves graze.
Contributing: Cindy Watts, The Tennessean. Follow Allison Carter on Twitter: @AllisonLCarter
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