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Just hours after Randy Travis‘ doctors said he was showing signs of improvement, the singer’s rep said in a statement that he has suffered a stroke and is undergoing surgery.
“As a complication of his congestive heart failure, Mr. Randy Travis has suffered a stroke and is currently undergoing surgery to relieve pressure on his brain,” his spokesman said Wednesday night. “He is in critical condition. We will have updates as they become available. His family and friends here with him at the hospital request your prayers and support.”
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Earlier in the day, doctors William Gray and Michael Mack of the Dallas-based Baylor Health Care System provided an update on Travis in a video statement. At the time, Mack said the singer’s “condition has stabilized and he has shown signs of improvement.”
The 54-year-old Travis was admitted to a Texas hospital on Sunday for congestive heart failure and viral cardiomyopathy — a condition caused by an infection in the heart.
A statement issued by Travis’ sister-in-law Teresa Traywick to USA Today on Tuesday revealed a family history of heart-related problems.
“Our prayers are going out to him because my husband just had a heart attack last year, so it is in their family,” she said. “Their mother passed away at an early age with her heart, so it is like these boys are following right in their footsteps.”
The recording artist, who released his first studio album, Storms of Life, in 1986, has won seven Grammy Awards and has sold more than 25 million records.
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More recently, he has seen a spate of legal troubles, including a 2012 arrest for driving under the influence — and apparently in the nude. A few weeks later, Travis’ truck was found wrecked in a Texas field.
In January, Travis pleaded guilty to the motor vehicle infraction and was sentenced to two years of probation, a $2,000 fine and a 180-day suspended jail sentence.
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