Couple Starts Fresh with Fireside Farm – Part 2

In Part 1, we met Jim and Catie King, owners of Fireside Farm, a pastured poultry operation using non-GMO feed in Highland County that started in January of 2017. Catie was moving forward with marketing the business and had also just become director of the Highland County Recreation Commission. Then, unfortunate news arrived.

“We moved up to Highland County, and things were going well, and we were just gettin’ business started and gettin’ in to the middle of summer, and all of a sudden we got hit with this big diagnosis and found out that I had ovarian cancer in June, and the type of cancer that I have is actually very rare, not only for my age, but also just in general. With this type of ovarian cancer, less than 5% of people get this clear cell component that I have, and most people who do get it are in their 60s or older, so it was extremely rare that I got it.

“As we continued to pray about it and went to different oncology appointments, I actually felt very uncomfortable with the first oncology appointment, then very comfortable with the second oncology appointment, but with the fact that Jim and I don’t have any kids, we were told that the chemo would most likely kind of kill that dream of ours. So I held on to that dream even tighter, and, of course, did not want to do chemotherapy for that reason, so we had started looking in to alternative therapies and after going to that second oncology appointment, and I had such a great experience, I felt the Lord telling me that that was where I needed to go and that I needed to do chemo. And, of course, that was extremely hard because I knew in my heart He was telling me I needed to do that, but in my brain, I did not want to let go of that dream, so I ended up saying, ‘Alright, Lord, I will be obedient.’

“We went down to South Carolina for a, like, holistic detox for two weeks right before starting in on my oncology appointment at UVA to get started on chemo, and the second week that I was down there, I was praying a lot about it, and as soon as I talked to my doctor about how I felt like the Lord was calling me to trust Him and to, you know, be able to let go of that dream and let Him hold that dream for me and see where He had a plan for our future and for future kids, that’s when immediately everything started lining up, and it was possible for me to be able to stay down there. The Highland Recreation Commission was very kind to work with me on that, and my husband was willing to be able to be here alone and continue with all the farm stuff, and my parents were willing to move there with me and be a support, and financially, things started coming through, so, so far, we are cancer-free and doing great! Yeah! Three months apart is a very long time, so I’m very glad to be back.”

Catie continues with maintenance therapy and followup checkups, but the potential dream of having children remains.

To learn more about Fireside Farm, Jim and Catie can be reached at their Fireside Farm Facebook page, emailed at firesidefarm.contact@gmail.com or called at 540-474-5999.