Pro-life stories change hearts. The beauty of a life lived for love transforms those around us. The latest example set to hit the big screen is told in the touching film To Joey, with Love. It’s a story of birth and death; beauty and cancer; Down syndrome and unending hope.
Country music fans may already know Joey Martin and Rory Feek of Joey + Rory, the award-winning duo who put their music career on hold before the birth of their daughter two years ago. For the rest of us, the love story of Joey and Rory is new. After welcoming their daughter Indiana “Indy,” Joey was diagnosed with cancer. Tragically, she passed away in March of this year.
Rory captured the beautiful moments of their simple life in Tennessee through writing, pictures, and video. For years Rory has shared the family’s journey of learning Indiana has Down syndrome and Joey’s battle with cancer on his blog, “This Life I Live.” Now, their tremendous story is set to reach countless more people through movie theaters with the release of his film. To Joey, with Love is a collection of intimate and heartfelt snippets of everyday life for the Feek family paying tribute to Joey.
Perhaps the most powerful part about the story is that it is true. Joey was a real woman who struggled and suffered but never lost hope. The other awesome part of this story is that it is not finished: Indy is still sharing her joy with the world. On his blog, Rory reflected:
Over the past couple of years Joey and I have heard the statistics, and they broke our hearts. They still break mine. That somewhere between 70 – 90% of pregnant mother’s that get tested and learn that their unborn child has down-syndrome abort the baby. I get it though. The world has told us that they are less. A mistake. But I don’t believe they are. At least I know Indiana’s not. When she was born, Joey and I said, ‘this is the child God wants us to have’, and we believed it. And we were right. I can not imagine Joey not having those two years to be a mama to Indiana and get to experience the love and happiness that Indy brought to her. God knew that. He made it so. It was His gift to her. Like Indy is my gift now. She is the smile on the face of father who should be crying. She is the joy in the life of a family that should be filled with sadness.
From the great tragedy of Joey’s death, we can learn what Rory took away from his beloved wife’s funeral: we have to live like she did. She welcomed her daughter with joy and never doubted that her daughter with Down syndrome could live life abundantly.
If you’d like to learn more about this powerful pro-life film, visit ToJoeyWithLove.com. You can find details on the two-night event in select theaters Tuesday, September 20, and Thursday, October 6.
