Randy Travis Health Update: Singer Taking “Huge Baby Steps” Toward Recovery

Country legend Randy Travis suffered a stroke in 2013 following congestive heart failure, but has been working toward recovery.

RANDY TRAVIS HEALTH UPDATE

Travis has been making small steps back to normalcy with the help of his wife, Mary Travis, who says the singer is making “giant baby steps.” In October of last year, Travis was honored with an induction into the Country Music Hall of Fame, and he was able to eke out a few notes of “Amazing Grace.”

“It’s little things that mean so much when you’re recovering from a stroke,” said Mary. “We never know when the end point is but we’re happy with every little change, every little sound, every little word, every new task.”

Recently, however, Mary reported a new milestone moment for the singer. “We were coming out of Memphis and overhead was a sign, ‘Nashville,’ and he was over in the passenger seat and went, ‘woo hoo,’ and he pointed up and he said, ‘Nashville.'” she described. “I just sat over there in the driver’s seat and cried because I knew then that he read that sign, and he recognized the word, and then he said it, that’s a huge thing. Huge for us.”

When asked if he hoped to record music again, Travis enthusiastically exclaimed, “yeah, yeah, yeah!”

“Music is his soul,” Mary explained. “It was really hard for him soon after the stroke to listen to his music. I remembered when I first put his music on, he cried and I thought, ‘ok, we’re not ready for that.'”

“We’ve truly lived the life of amazing grace,” she said. “We are onward and upward.”