The country music legend is at a point in his life that's a far cry from when he was at the top of the charts, and he's opening up about it in a new memoir.
Every step for Randy Travis these days is a struggle — but they are also a blessing.
The country music legend suffered a devastating stroke in 2013 that left him clinging to life. Today, he still has difficulty speaking and walking, taking wife Mary's arm as he met with Inside Edition's Megan Alexander.
When asked if it was a miracle that he's still alive today, Randy simply said, "Yeah."
The stroke put Randy in a coma for 72 hours, leaving people wondering if he was even going to make it through.
But Randy said he could hear people in his hospital room even though he couldn't communicate. He heard someone say he wouldn't survive and that it was time to pull the plug.
"I went to his bedside and I said, 'Baby, you gotta let me know if you wanna keep fighting this battle. And he just squeezed my hand and I knew then he wasn't through fighting," Mary said.
Randy survived the stroke and received brain surgery, and Mary has stood by her husband's side through these years of recovery. "He's not a quitter. He's a fighter. He's a warrior. He's an angel," Mary said.
Randy's life in 2019 is a far cry from when he topped the country music charts, with songs like 1987's hit "Forever and Ever, Amen." He no longer performs due to the limitations from his stroke.
But when he celebrated his 60th birthday at the Grand Ole Opry, which he was inducted into in 1986, he lit up the revered stage, reminding fans that he's still the same Randy Travis they've fallen in love with over his three-decade career. As the band played a rendition of "Forever and Ever, Amen," Randy crooned the final "Amen" of the Grammy-winning song to roaring cheers from the crowd.
Randy has chronicled these challenges and others, like his struggle with alcohol abuse, in a new memoir, appropriately titled "Forever and Ever, Amen: A Memoir of Music, Faith, and Braving the Storms of Life."
Read an excerpt from the book here.
When asked how Randy has stayed the course through these trials, Mary said it's taken "a lot of soul searching, understanding that we're all human, and regardless of fame and fortune, we all have our mountains and valleys to walk through."
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