Travis is battling back
Country singer ‘damaged’ after near-fatal stroke
Randy Travis was so near death after his 2013 stroke that he flatlined three times and doctors advised removing him from life support, the country music legend and his wife, Mary, revealed in their most in-depth interview since his sudden hospitalization.
Three years and three months later, Travis walked on stage to be inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame. He stood throughout his induction and then stunned the room, singing Amazing Grace.
The road back has been grueling, Travis, seated beside his wife, said during a wide-ranging 90-minute conversation at the couple’s upscale Nashville condo. Travis’ speech is halting, and he maneuvers around the residence in a wheelchair.
Asked whether he is happy, the singer paused for several seconds.
“Well … no,” he said, before another long pause. “Damaged.”
On Wednesday, Travis smiled as he returned to the stage during an all-star tribute to the singer at Nashville’s Bridgestone Arena.
Travis and Mary watched from their seats on stage as 30 artists including Garth Brooks, Chris Young and Jamey Johnson performed his songs. Brooks handed the microphone to Travis to sing the final word of Forever and
Ever, Amen, to the crowd’s delight.
Although Travis is still working to regain his conversation skills, he can sing, which, his wife notes, is controlled by a different part of his brain than speaking.
“There is a perfectionist in him that knows he’s not singing exactly like he used to that keeps him from enjoying it like I wish he would,” she said. “I know the world when they hear him, they can tell it’s Randy Travis, and the more he does it, the better it’s going to get.”
Travis changed the course of
country music in 1986 with the release of his multiplatinum-selling
Storms of Life. Over the next three decades, he charted 18 No. 1 songs and his traditional country baritone rang on hits including Three Wooden Crosses, Deeper than a
Holler and On the Other Hand. “I can’t find another artist in any format in the history of music that turned a format 180 degrees right back into itself, a mirror of what it was, and made it bigger than it was before,” said Brooks, who has counted Travis among his biggest influences.
Added Brad Paisley: “Randy showed up on the scene with a voice that was both retro and fresh, songs that were brilliant and charisma that could never be duplicated.”
Lightly stroking her husband’s hand with her thumb, Mary Travis recounted the days after the stroke, describing them as “hitting a brick wall at 100 miles per hour.”
Travis went into the emergency room near their Texas ranch on July 5, 2013, complaining of congestion. His lungs full of fluid, he was transferred larger hospital, where he lost consciousness for the first time.
It was not until he came out of a coma days later that doctors realized he had suffered a stroke. Mary Travis tearfully recalled being told that lifesaving surgery would be required. And even with surgery, Travis had only a 1% to 2% chance of survival.
“At this point, the 1 to 2% chance is 100% chance over zero,” Mary Travis says. “I prayed hard, ‘God, please let me have him back, any way, shape or form.’ ”
The surgery was successful and, following more than two years of rehab, Travis can walk, shower unassisted and get himself dressed.
He remembers all of his song lyrics and can use his left hand to run the chords on his guitar neck. He’s still regaining use of his right arm and leg. He says it feels “good” to sing again.
Asked where he wants to be in his recovery five years from now, Travis smiled and shrugged his shoulders.
“I think our goal for five years is to remain hopeful and keep our heads up high and not throw in the towel and be happy with wherever God has us,” Mary Travis said. “If it’s back up on that stage singing, hallelujah.”