Country star Randy Travis was facing a major health battle after suffering a severe stroke in 2013. But while Travis is continuing on with his life, his wife, Mary Travis has revealed that things soon after the stroke were looking dire. Four months into his hospital stay, doctors approached Mary with a hard recommendation. “They said, ‘We need to pull the plug. He’s got too many things going against him,” Mary recalled. In addition to a staph infection, Randy had experienced congestive heart failure primary to his stroke. Doctors feared that Travis “have the strength to get through this.” He had first arrived at the hospital with viral cardiomyopathy, which then developed into his stroke.

But Mary had other thoughts. “I think Randy, there was never a doubt in Randy’s mind that he could make it through,” she said. After being told to make her farewell, she went to Randy. “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,’” said Mary. She then refused the doctor’s suggestions. “That man right there, he wants to fight, and y’all are gonna fight with him. 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,” she said. The experience also strengthened Travis’s faith. “While you were laying there in that hospital bed, did you pray? Did you talk to God? He said, ‘All the time. And I knew that he and the Good Lord had a thing going on, he always has with him.”

Travis went on to a physical therapy center where he had to relearn to walk. Despite continuing to use a wheelchair and suffering from aphasia, Travis continues to travel with Mary and uses AI to help him. “Randy and I are both on stage. I give a little bit of background as far as the music, the musicians, Randy, the stroke, a song, the AI, of course,” said Mary. “And then we show videos of Randy’s historical past, as far as some of his joke-telling, which allows people to see the humor that Randy has,” she said. “And all the way back to his childhood and working with horses in some of the Westerns that he was in, the funny things along the way. So, it gives you a whole, like I said, biographical sketch of Randy Travis. And then James Dupre is singing all of the songs, and it’s just kind of a magical night really.”