{"id":3452,"date":"2023-10-09T10:47:28","date_gmt":"2023-10-09T14:47:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/dailycupofwellness\/?p=3452"},"modified":"2024-02-06T09:08:40","modified_gmt":"2024-02-06T14:08:40","slug":"toby-keith-says-his-faith-was-his-rock-after-his-stomach-cancer-diagnosis","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/dailycupofwellness\/2023\/10\/toby-keith-says-his-faith-was-his-rock-after-his-stomach-cancer-diagnosis.html","title":{"rendered":"Toby Keith Said His Faith Was His &#8216;Rock&#8217; After His Stomach Cancer Diagnosis"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure id=\"attachment_3461\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-3461\" style=\"width: 768px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-3461\" src=\"https:\/\/wp-media.beliefnet.com\/sites\/410\/2023\/10\/toby-keith-credit-featureflash-photo-agency-shutterstock-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"toby keith\" width=\"768\" height=\"576\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-3461\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Featureflash Photo Agency\/Shutterstock.com<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Toby Keith was a man of faith and a country icon. The country musician was the first recipient of the Country Icon Award at the inaugural People\u2019s Choice Country Awards in 2023. Before the award show kickoff, Keith told Fox News Digital that he was doing \u201calright\u201d and was leaning on his faith to help get himself through the challenging times, like his stomach cancer diagnosis he shared in June 2022.<\/p>\n<p>Sadly, the 62-year-old country superstar lost his battle with cancer, passing away on February 5, 2024. His death was announced on <a class=\"css-yywogo\" title=\"\" href=\"https:\/\/www.tobykeith.com\/news\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">his official website<\/a>. Elaine Schock, Mr. Keith\u2019s publicist, said in an email that he died in Oklahoma, where he had lived his entire life.<\/p>\n<p>At the time, Keith said, \u201cI lean on my faith, and I just pray and lean into it. You gotta\u2019 do what you gotta\u2019 do, and I don\u2019t know how people do it without faith. That\u2019s what I did; it was my rock.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>He said, \u201c30 years of all the songs I wrote, and they\u2019re flashing by ya pretty quick. Thirty went by pretty quickly. I\u2019m glad they\u2019re recognizing our accomplishment.\u201d Keith was presented the award at Nashville, Tennessee\u2019s Grand Ole Opry by his \u201cold friend\u201d\u00a0Blake Shelton. Keith told Fox News Digital on who he wanted to present the award to him, \u201cHe\u2019s who I would\u2019ve chosen. He\u2019s an old friend of mine. I was his first tour when he came out. We remain friends, we\u2019re a lot alike, kindred spirits kind of thing.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><iframe title=\"YouTube video player\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/vkRL-ohByWo?si=0ioIeaWwtgy1kHTD\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>A tribute in honor of Keith was played before Shelton took the stage to present him with the Icon Award. Shelton presented the award to Keith, saying, \u201cI love my Oklahoma brother.\u201d Keith took the stage, hugged Shelton, and told the crowd, \u201cI bet y\u2019all never thought you would see me in skinny jeans.\u201d The legendary musician thanked his fans, family, and God for letting him receive the award. Keith then went straight into a performance of his song, \u201cDon\u2019t Let the Old Man In.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>On the red carpet earlier in the evening, Little Big Town told Fox News Digital that fans would \u201creally love\u201d Keith\u2019s performance during the award show.\u00a0Dustin Lynch echoed Little Big Town\u2019s sentiments about Keith, saying he is \u201cone of his heroes.\u201d\u00a0Lynch added, \u201cOne of my musical heroes, one of the reasons I moved to Nashville to want to write songs, is Toby Keith. So, I\u2019m looking forward to shaking his hand and telling him \u2018Thank you\u2019 again.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n<p>In June 2022, Keith revealed that he was diagnosed with stomach cancer in fall 2021. He wrote on his social media accounts at the time, \u201cLast fall, I was diagnosed with stomach cancer. I\u2019ve spent the last 6 months receiving chemo, radiation and surgery. So far, so good. I need time to breathe, recover and relax.\u201d He added, \u201cI am looking forward to spending this time with my family. But I will see the fans sooner than later. I can\u2019t wait.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Keith was a longtime advocate for families facing cancer diagnoses and helped found Ally\u2019s House in 2004, a nonprofit group that assists Oklahoma children with cancer and their families.<\/p>\n<p>A statement released shortly after his passing said Keith was surrounded by his family when he died and that &#8220;he fought his fight with grace and courage.&#8221; Join us in prayer for Toby Keith and his family and friends as they grieve for the loved one they&#8217;ve lost.<\/p>\n<p><em>Heavenly Father, we ask for your mercy and grace for Toby Keith as he begins his journey into eternal life. Please bring him into your loving arms and grant him peace and rest. We also pray for his family and friends who are left behind, that they would find comfort and hope in your presence and the promise of seeing their loved one again. Amen.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Toby Keith was a man of faith and a country icon. The country musician was the first recipient of the Country Icon Award at the inaugural People\u2019s Choice Country Awards in 2023. Before the award show kickoff, Keith told Fox News Digital that he was doing \u201calright\u201d and was leaning on his faith to help&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":657,"featured_media":3461,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fbia_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[10,5,17],"tags":[719,716],"class_list":["post-3452","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-celebrity","category-christian","category-faith-and-health","tag-stomach-cancer","tag-toby-keith"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Toby Keith Said His Faith Was His &#039;Rock&#039; After His Stomach Cancer Diagnosis<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Country music icon Toby Keith recently opened up about how his faith has helped him deal with his stomach cancer diagnosis.\" 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