What a legend.
Last night, it was announced by his family that country hitmaker Toby Keith passed away at the age of 62 after a long battle with stomach cancer:
“Toby Keith passed away peacefully last night on February 5th, surrounded by his family. He fought his fight with grace and courage. Please respect the privacy of his family at this time.”
Recently, Toby gave his first televised performance since his cancer diagnosis with a heartbreaking performance of “Don’t Let The Old Man In” at the People’s Choice Country Awards, where he also gave an update on his health and his future plans:
“I’ve walked some dark hallways. The Almighty’s riding shotgun.
But I feel pretty good. You have good days and bad days, but it’s a little bit of a rollercoaster. But I’m doing a lot better than I was this time last year.
I’ve always wrote with a prayer, and as long as I have Him with me, I’m cool. You just have to dig in, you don’t have a choice.”
He also made his triumphant return to the road with three recent shows in Las Vegas, which ultimately turned out to be his final concerts.
And in his final interview, Toby sat down with News on 6 in his home state of Oklahoma to discuss his battle with cancer, and how his faith has helped him through the tough days.
“Cancer’s a rollercoaster. You just sit here and wait on it to go away. It may not ever go away. And if it goes into remission it’s still going to be in the back of your mind. You’re still going to have to do scans and stuff.”
When asked how he was getting through it, Toby had a simple answer:
“Faith. You have to have your faith.
Thank God that I got it too. You take it for granted on days that things are good and you lean on it when days are bad. It’s taught me to lean on it a little more every day.”
And he said it was that faith that allowed him to make peace with wherever the journey may lead:
“I finally got to a point in the spring – I was diagnosed in October of ’21 and I was going through all the chemo, the first time I’d been through chemo and radiation and surgery – and I just got to the point where I was comfortable with whatever happened. I had my brain wrapped around it and I was in a good spot either way.
People without faith don’t have that.”
God bless Toby Keith.
