Joey + Rory: Prayers sadly answered

NASHVILLE — Hospice has been called in for Joey Martin Feek.

Martin Feek, one half of country duo Joey + Rory, has been courageously fighting cancer — off and on — for about 18 months. She had surgery to treat cervical cancer in the summer of 2014. Doctors believed they had removed all of the cancer, but the disease returned; and Martin Feek did more aggressive treatment, including surgery, this summer. However, the cancer continued to grow.

Joey Martin Feek of Joey + Rory stops cancer treatment

Last week, Martin Feek’s husband Rory Feek called for a prayer vigil where he reached out to friends and fans, asking them to pray at 8 p.m. Thursday. He requested that prayers not only ask that wife was healed, but also for God’s will. Friday, he said, they received their answer.

“At 4 a.m. on Friday morning we rushed Joey to the hospital in Muncie, (Ind.)” he wrote on his blog, www.thislifeilive.com. “Her pain had become too much to (handle). A few hours later, the doctors told us that the pain was from the cancer tumors continuing to grow and become inflamed and we need to concentrate now on helping her be comfortable.

"Not the answer we hoped for … but the answer He has given us.”

The Feek family lives on a farm outside of Nashville, but has spent recent weeks in Martin Feek's native Indiana with her family.

Feek said doctors were able to get his wife’s pain under control with heavy medication. Over the weekend, he brought their young daughter, Indiana, to the hospital to visit with her mother.

He wrote: “Both of their eyes light up the moment they see each other. It’s been beautiful.”

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Martin Feek sang her baby hymns and read her stories, and the little girl fell asleep on her mother’s chest.

Feek planned to bring his wife home Monday. He wrote that a hospital bed was to be delivered and that the family had set up a play area for the couple’s daughter nearby.

“Joey is at peace with where she is and where she’s going,” Feek wrote. “So am I. An answer to prayer.”

Follow Cindy Watts on Twitter: @CindyNWatts