Mange husker de jordnære og hyggelige Joey+Rory fra 2011 da de varmet opp på Alan Jackson sine konserter i Norge og Sverige.
Ekteparet gikk i juni 2014 ut med nyheten om at Joey var blitt diagnostisert med livmorhalskreft ikke lenge etter fødselen av parets datter, Indiana, som ble født med Downs syndrom.
Paret har hatt tøffe tider. Joey har vært gjennom både operasjon og cellegiftkurer, og nylig kom den triste beskjeden om at kreften hadde kommet tilbake og spredt seg til tykktarmen. For bare noen få dager siden avslørte Rory i et blogginnlegg at Joeys kreft var uhelbredelig og de skulle stoppe all behandling.
«The scans revealed that two quarter-sized tumors have already grown back in the same area that they had been blasting daily with chemo and radiation. And that many more smaller tumors were visible all throughout the abdominal region. She said that the cancer was aggressively spreading in spite of all they’ve been doing.
So we did what you do when the medicine isn’t working, and the doctors are at a loss…and when the ‘statistics” say you can do more chemo, but it will only buy you a little time…
We came home.
Not to die. But to live.
To put our hands in each others and sit out on the back porch and watch the sun set as our sweet little baby girl plays on a blanket in front of us. To bask in the glory of the beautiful life He’s blessed us with, and try not to question why we can’t have more of it together. And why He is allowing this to happen.
The doctors gave us an estimate of how much time they believe that Joey has, and we both looked at the calendar that hangs by our kitchen door, then I took the calendar off the wall and threw in the trash can.
So we don’t have forever. We’ve got right now.
And that’s enough.
I’m not going to tell you that I’m okay with this because ‘God has a bigger plan’. Or that ‘we’ll understand His bigger purpose somewhere down the line’. That logic doesn’t really work for me right now. I’m not angry at God. I’m not angry with anyone. I’m just disappointed. I hoped that Joey would get to be one of the lucky ones that somehow overcome stage 4 cancer and get to hear words like ‘remission’ or ‘cure’, instead of ‘I’m so sorry’.
It’s hard for me to feel slighted, when I know that the career that Joey and I have had – this amazing last 7 years or so – has only been, because God reached out His powerful hand and chose us. He lifted us up from our little farm. and let us see and do things beyond our wildest dreams. And you can’t be in awe of an amazing road that God leads you down, and then be any less in awe of a corner that He has you turn.
I think in the end… the good and the bad, He just wants us to give it to Him.
And so we do.
One of the mantra’s that I always try to live by is to have incredibly “high hopes, but low expectations”. So, even though we know we’ve reached the end of what medicine can do – and while we prepare for what God has put in front of us… Joey and I will continue to pray for a miracle.
We ask for your prayers too. For a miracle.
And even more so, for peace with His decision.
That is enough.»
Fryktelig triste nyheter altså. Våre tanker går til ekteparet Joey og Rory, familie og venner i denne tøffe tiden..
Les bloggen til Joey+Rory her.
I 2012 spilte paret inn låta «When I’m Gone» der Joey synger om hvordan livet vil bli når hun har gått bort. Lite viste de at denne låta skulle bli så aktuell etter så kort tid…
«You’ll lie down in our big bed / Dread the dark and dread the dawn. / But you’ll be alright on that first night when I’m gone.»
