As country star Joey Feek nears the end of her cancer battle in hospice care, the 40-year-old singer's husband, Rory Feek, shared a heartbreaking new Facebook photo of his wife surrounded by her daughters.
"Our girls drove up here last night to spend more time with their mom and baby sister," the dad of three captioned the sweet photo of Joey, wrapped in the embrace of her daughter Indiana, 20 months, and teenage stepdaughters Heidi and Hopie.
Joey, half of the popular singing duo Joey + Rory with her husband Rory, has courageously battled an aggressive strain of cervical cancer since May 2014. The cancer rapidly spread despite multiple surgeries - including a radical hysterectomy - and chemotherapy and radiation treatment.
"I pray that one morning I just don't wake up," she recently told Cindy Watts of The Tennessean.
"But I don't fear anything because I'm so close to God and we've talked about it so many times. I know he's close. And I know he loves me. I'm really at peace. I still believe there's healing in prayer."
Joey went on to share her reaction to finding out that her cancer was taking hold, saying through tears, "More than anything, I felt like I failed at something. I thought I did everything. But God decided for me that my job of singing for people down here is my legacy, and he needs me singing up there. That's how I look at it."
Rory and Joey Feek shot to fame after winning the 2010 Academy of Country Music's "Top New Vocal Duo" award. The couple also regularly appeared on television shows filmed in their barn in Tennessee.
Over the past two years, Rory Feek has blogged extensively about the family's situation. Part of his self-proclaimed bio states: "I want to live a great story. I want to be a better man. I film. I write. I show up. God does the rest."
On Oct. 23, Joey's husband shared the news and wrote that his wife was opting to live out her final days with their family. "Sometimes there just aren't enough surgeries - or doctors - or chemotherapies - or prayers," he wrote at the time. "And you have to wipe the tears from your cheeks and say the words that you were hoping to never have to say ... Enough."
Then, on Nov. 12, he shared: "I want my wife to be remembered. By me. By others who love her even though they've never met her. I guess that's why I write this blog. I want her sweet voice and her love to live on. And not just outlive her...but to somehow outlive me, and our girls, and even their children. And someday when your moment comes with someone you love...maybe, just maybe, you will remember Joey and her words and voice and life will comfort you...and her song will live on."
