Randy Travis and his wife Mary are opening up about when they first began seeing the light at the end of the tunnel during the country star's health crisis more than a decade ago.
The "Forever and Ever, Amen" singer, who survived a 2013 stroke and has been largely unable to speak or walk since that time, was told by doctors that he had a 1% chance of survival, Mary Travis recalled in an interview Fox News published Nov. 13.
Mary Travis said the Grammy-winning musician was given the grim prognosis after the first brain surgery.
"The first one is when they said he's not, you know, he doesn't have any chance," she said, adding that he came through a second brain surgery with "flying colors."
"And that was the first couple of days in the hospital,"
Mary Travis said. "So here we are, five and a half months later, he's still here. He's still improving."
"But, you know, once you get over those and you start seeing the glimmers of hope and the hand of God on the whole thing," she said.
Following his 2013 hospitalization for congestive heart failure tied to viral cardiomyopathy, Randy Travis later suffered a severe stroke that left him with partial paralysis, impacting his speech.
"We went through three years of rehab every single day, so we were very quiet and out of the limelight, if you will," she said.
Randy Travis got to 'live life' after constant rehabilitation, wife says
After a cycle of rehabilitation, Mary Travis said her husband "got tired" and decided to "go live life" instead.
Visiting Nashville helped fuel Randy Travis' love for music, she said.
He released the track "Where That Came From" in May 2024 using AI technology to help replicate his singing voice, and earlier this year he participated in the "More Life" tour where he traveled with Mary Travis and guest vocalist James Dupré, who performed his sets alongside Randy Travis' longtime band.
"I have pictures of him there in the rehab center and he's smiling. He's laughing. He's giving it all he's got. Randy Travis hasn't changed. And that's still the man that I get to sit beside right now," she said. "He still has that, that love for life, the love for people."
On Friday, Nov. 13, he released his first new album in more than 18 years titled "Same Old Way." The project consists of 12 unreleased songs recorded between 1986 and 2013 and restored by producer Kyle Lehning.
"It's really an emotional thing, because 18 years ago when he put out his last one, we thought that the world was an oyster and there was gonna be so many more," she added. "But the stroke happened, it was 13 years ago, and everything changed."
She continued: "Thirteen years ago, we had no idea, based on where we were then, when we were in the hospital, that we would have this opportunity. So, in a way, it’s a miracle. I get emotional when I think about it, just because I wanted to hear his voice so bad again."
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Randy Travis' wife shares new details about his 1% survival odds after stroke
