In the months that followed Randy Travis‘ 2013 stroke, his life hung in the balance.
The situation got so dire, in fact, that doctors were ready to halt their treatment efforts. But the singer’s wife Mary never gave up.
During a new interview with FOX News Digital, the couple recount how at one point, about four months into his hospital stay, Travis’ medical team told Mary that it was time to consider “pull[ing] the plug.”
“They said, ‘We need to pull the plug. He’s got too many things going against him,'” Mary remembers in the emotional interview.
Travis was battling a staph infection and “three other hospital-borne bacterial viruses,” she goes on to say. “The doctors were just saying, ‘He doesn’t have the strength to get through this.'”
Randy Travis Beat the Odds, With Help From His Wife
Randy Travis was hospitalized for five-and-a-half months across two hospitals in 2013.
The singer arrived at the hospital in critical condition for viral cardiomyopathy that summer, which led to a stroke and two days in a coma.
At the time, doctors said he had less than a one percent chance of surviving.
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But, Mary tells FOX News Digital, she and her country legend husband shared a “magical moment” after doctors said it was time to pull the plug.
“That’s when I went to him. That’s when I knew that Randy Travis was gonna make it, because he squeezed my hand and a tear went down his face. I said, ‘He’s still fighting.'”
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Mary says she had to be a “mama bear” as she advocated for her husband to his medical team.
“That man right there, he wants to fight, and y’all are gonna fight with him,” she recalls saying.
“I meant that, and Randy meant it,” she reflects. “I knew at that point in time — because he had every odd in the world against him — and he wasn’t giving up. I was so encouraged by that. He was my inspiration.”
Faith Carried Randy Travis Through His Darkest Moments
Elsewhere in the interview, Mary gives much of the credit for Travis’ unlikely recovery to his close relationship with God.
She says that later on, she asked the singer if faith was on his mind as he lay there in critical condition.
“While you were laying there in that hospital bed, did you pray? Did you talk to God?” she remembers asking.
“He said, ‘All the time,'” Mary continues. “And I knew that he and the Good Lord had a thing going on, he always has with him.”
How Is Randy Travis’ Health Today?
More than a decade after his stroke, Travis has made miraculous strides toward recovery.
But he still lives with the damage caused by his near-death experience.
Travis spent time at a physical therapy center after leaving the hospital. He had to re-learn how to walk and mostly uses a wheelchair to this day.
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He also suffers from aphasia as a result of his health complications, which severely limits his ability to speak and sing.
Travis still mostly relies on his wife to give interviews, and he typically doesn’t sing live or record music.
In one powerful moment, he sung “Amazing Grace” when he was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 2016.
The singer has also found creative ways to tour and released a new song with the help of A.I.
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Gallery Credit: Sterling Whitaker
