Indiana Feek, the only daughter of country singer Rory Feek and his late wife Joey Feek, recently had open heart surgery.
Indiana “Indy” Feek was born with Down Syndrome in 2014 and sadly, just two short years later, Joey passed away after a lengthy battle with cervical cancer.
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Indiana Required Open Heart Surgery
Indiana, or “Indy” for short, was born with a ventricular septal defect (VSD), which is a small hole in the heart.
Rory explained on his blog that “about half of all little ones born with Down syndrome have heart issues,” and Indy is among those who do.
Usually VSDs close on their own or are manageable without treatment, but occasionally, they require surgery when the child is a bit older. Some doctors have said that you can even go on to compete at the Olympics with a VSD, depending on the severity.
Unfortunately, Indiana is one of the children who require surgery, Rory revealed in a blog post titled “Bless Her Heart.”
After preparing her and doing all the pre-op routines, her surgery was postponed a day due to an emergency surgery the doctor had to perform.
The day after the surgery was performed, Rory wrote another blog post titled “recovering,” where he updated his followers on the surgery and how Indy was doing.
Rory wrote that Indy’s tears started flowing “because she’s frightened and in pain, and not fully understanding what’s happening, and why she has all the tubes and wires attached to her.”
Meanwhile, he and his wife, Rebecca, were crying too, “because it hurts us to see her in so much pain that we can’t make go away.”
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Despite the pain, Indy’s surgery was successful and Rory said the doctors told him she should “make a full recovery and live a full, long, life.
“Thank you Jesus,” Rory wrote.
Rory Gives A New Update
On July 3, Rory once again took to his blog to give an update on Indiana that his followers have been waiting for: they got to take her home.
He revealed that she was released from the hospital on Monday, June 29th, but they were asked to stay nearby so they could come back for her post-op appointment on Thursday, July 2.
They stayed at a nearby hotel, where they had friends and family stop by to bring them meals and spend time with them on the short walks that Indiana could do. Luckily, an ice cream shop was nearby!
Her post-op appointment went very well and before they headed home to Waco, Texas, they stopped by the hospital one more time to pick up all the mail Indy received from supporters around the country.
When they returned home, they were blessed to find that their neighbors had filled their fridge with food, had rearranged Indy’s room to have a bed that was more accessible for her, and with welcome home signs.
After unpacking, Rory and Indy went through the hundreds of cards from all over and Indy had fun figuring out how many states were represented.
“Love, truly is an amazing thing,” he wrote, noting that the majority of the cards were from complete strangers.
Rory wrote about his and his family’s gratitude for the doctors, nurses, hospital, their support system, and everyone else who helped in Indy’s surgery and stay, because they know how much worse it could have been.
He also prayed that this would be the final update about Indy’s heart.
“This is, God-willing, the last post and story I’m going to share about Indy’s heart journey. The full recovery time they say will take about six weeks,” he wrote. “And while that’s happening here at home, there are lots of other stories that I want to share, and adventures that God is going to take us on.”
We are so happy to hear Indy’s recovery it going well. We know her mama, Joey, is guiding her from Heaven. We will continue to keep Indy in our prayers during her recovery.
