Country legend Randy Travis, 67, had 'one percent chance of survival' amid health crisis... before his miraculous comeback

Randy Travis was told by doctors that he had a narrow chance of survival during a harrowing health crisis, his wife Mary Travis revealed, before his miraculous comeback.

The country singer, 67, suffered a near-fatal stroke in 2013 that affected his speech and mobility, leaving him unable to sing, while being treated for congestive heart failure.

'They had already told us he had one percent chance of survival, and that was the first couple of days in the hospital,' his wife revealed in an interview published by Fox News on Friday. 

At the time, Travis was hospitalized for viral cardiomyopathy, an infection that leads to inflammation of and can cause weakening of the heart muscle, per the Cleveland Clinic.

'So here we are, five and a half months later, he's still here. He's still improving,' she continued about his 2013 health struggles.

'We went through the second brain surgery,' she recalled. 'He came through that with flying colors. The first one is when they said he's not, you know, he doesn't have any chance. 

'But, you know, once you get over those and you start seeing the glimmers of hope and the hand of God on the whole thing,' she added.

Mary also shared her admiration of his resilience.

'Just being with this guy has been such an inspiration to me because, going through even the tough times in the hospital, the nurses would come in and cut him or stick him or poke him or do whatever, and they'd walk out the door,' she said.

'And if he wasn't in his coma and he was aware, he'd say, "Thank you." That was Randy Travis.

'And they'd turn around and look like, you got to be kidding me, you know. But that was Randy Travis.' 

After years of rehabilitation, Travis regained his strength and returned to music, and recently released Same Old Way, his first album of original material in over 18 years. 

The album features 12 previously unreleased songs that he recorded in between 1986 and 2013. and have since been restored by producer Kyle Lehning. 

About Travis' project with his longtime producer, Mary told People: 'Randy and Kyle had such a mutual respect for each other, for their taste in music, for the style, for the way that they wanted a song to sound. 

'We were having that conversation earlier today at the house and how many hours, thousands of hours that they spent in studio time and never had a cross word, never really had a disagreement,' she shared. 

'If it was something Randy didn't like, Kyle was OK with it. If Kyle didn't like it, Randy was OK with it.' 

She also shed insight into how they picked the title of the album. 

'What's old is new again, right? It is opening a new chapter in a way, but it did feel familiar. And I don't know if that makes any sense at all.  

'Maybe just hearing his vocal and his voice again, the real Randy, that was warm and cozy. That was familiar,' she continued.

'But then to hear the songs, some of them I'd never even heard, it felt new again.

'I love that we're able to do this,' she added. 

'We never would've dreamed it 13-and-a-half years ago, that we would be sitting here talking to you about a new album that's getting ready to release and what a blessing that is. It's really a gift to us too.'