Randy Travis’ journey over the past twelve years has been nothing short of incredible. If you recall, the “Three Wooden Crosses” singer suffered a massive stroke back in July 2013, which was caused by a complication of his congestive heart failure. At the time, doctors only gave him a 1% chance to live, but Travis pulled through.
The stroke, as we all know, did not come without its consequences, however. Despite surviving in what can only be described as a miracle, Travis has remained severely affected by it, developing aphasia and being extremely limited in terms of both speech and his ability to sing. Though this hasn’t stopped him from going out on the road with guest vocalist, James Dupré, and members of his original band and even releasing new songs with the help of AI, it’s been admittedly pretty sad to see the living legend in the current state he’s in.
With that being said, however, Randy’s wife, Mary Travis, revealed to Fox News yesterday that doctors thought he had no chance to survive following the stroke in 2013 and even advised her to pull the plug following complications.
As Mary recalled, while he was battling the stroke, he developed a plethora of different hospital-born viruses, including Serratia, Pseudomonas and a staph infection. With all the complications piling up, doctors didn’t think he had the strength to survive:
“I think Randy, there was never a doubt in Randy’s mind that he could make it through it. It was that magical moment that I went to his bedside when they said, ‘We need to pull the plug. He’s got too many things going against him at that point.’ He had gotten a staph infection and three other hospital-born bacterial viruses like Serratia, Pseudomonas, one thing after another, and the doctors were just saying, ‘He just doesn’t have the strength to get through this.'”
Just when all hope was seemingly lost for the “Forever and Ever, Amen” singer, Travis gave Mary a sign that he was still in the fight. As doctors were telling her to say goodbye due to his vitals and low blood cell count, he squeezed her hand while a tear rolled down his face:
“That’s when I went to him. That was the moment that I knew that Randy Travis was gonna make it because he squeezed my hand and a tear went down his face. And I said, ‘He’s still fighting.'”
After that moment, Mary recalled that she was determined to fight with him, refusing to pull the plug on the 7x Grammy winner:
“And I meant that, and Randy meant it. And I knew at that point in time, because he had every odd in the world against him, and he wasn’t giving up. And I was so encouraged by that, to be honest. He was my inspiration.”
Against all odds, Randy survived. After three long weeks in the hospital, he was released on July 31, 2013, before going through extensive therapy for years to recover from the stroke. In the years following, he’s relearned how to talk, write and even play guitar. Despite being bound to a wheelchair, he still makes regular appearances at the Opry, ACMs and his aforementioned tour with Mary, Dupré and his band.
Additionally, Travis was recently awarded the Milestone Award last week at the 18th ACM Honors due to his resilience following the stroke, as well as his advocacy for stroke awareness and healthcare rights in the industry. For Mary, the award is simply a reminder of all that he has endured throughout his life:
“Well, the Milestone Award, I guess just the terminology itself ‘milestone’ means a lot of different things based on the roads that Randy has traveled, the things that he’s done, the things he’s accomplished, and the things he’s been through as far as his viral cardiomyopathy living through that, the massive stroke living through, there’s just a whole lot wonderful milestones in Randy Travis’s life.”
His most recent release, utilizing the help of AI to recreate his voice, is titled “Horses In Heaven.”
