Rory Feek Shares Touching Story of Joey’s Best Friend
Joey + Rory singer Joey Feek has been fighting cancer since June, and in a touching new update, her husband Rory details how her best friend has been right by her side every step of the way.
Joey was diagnosed with Stage 4 cancer in June of 2015, and she decided to end her treatments after doctors told her there was nothing more they could do. She is in hospice care in her hometown of Alexandria, Ind., and in a new post to his blog, This Life I Live, Rory shares how her best friend is staying with her at the end.
Julie Zamboldi first met the couple at a music festival eight years ago, and over time she has become their biggest fan, and eventually came to work for them, running their fan club. "It turns out that Julie had lost two of her best girlfriends to cancer and it had hurt and scarred her, and somehow our music was a part of her healing," Rory shares.
Over the years they've become very close, especially Julie and Joey." Like an angel from heaven, it was as if God sent Julie to us. To her," he writes. "But none of us knew why, until the cancer showed up again this summer."
Julie has stood by her friend through thick and thin, even cutting off her hair in solidarity, and though Rory says he was hesitant to call anyone Joey's "best friend" for fear of hurting anyone else, he says their manager helped him realize she has earned the title by giving up a huge chunk of her own life to be there for Joey, even traveling to her hometown -- "not waiting for someone we love to die. But helping the woman we all love to live..." Rory writes.
She was scheduled to leave Saturday night (Jan. 16) to return to Oregon, where she lives with her husband, but after Joey tearfully said she was afraid she would never see her again, she has decided once again to stay.
"And so at the Indianapolis airport this evening , a plane will take off and Saint Jules (as Joey’s daddy calls her) won’t be on it," Rory shares. "Instead, she will be be with her best friend. And as God would have it, the tables have turned and now it’s easy to see…
"Joey and I are Julie’s biggest fans."
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