These Eight Celebrities Suffered From Aphasia

After the Grammy-winning country music star was hospitalized because of viral cardiomyopathy, a virus that attacks the heart, he suffered a stroke in 2013. Travis lost his ability to talk and to comprehend language. His ongoing struggles with aphasia mean he still does few interviews, as his ability to speak is severely limited.

He described his struggle with aphasia in his 2019 memoir, Forever and Ever, Amen: A Memoir of Music, Faith, and Braving the Storms of Life. He wrote:

“In my case, my brain was functioning, and I could understand what Mary [Travis’s wife] said to me, but I could not respond in anything close to a sentence. When we first returned home, I could barely speak at all. We spent three months in speech therapy before I learned to say the letter ‘A.’ Eventually, after about a year and a half, I could say ‘yup,’ ‘nope,’ and ‘bathroom.’ I could also say ‘I love you’ and a few other phrases but not much more. All this was extremely frustrating for me; I felt like I was trapped inside the shell of my body.”

Travis is determined to help others overcome similar struggles. He and Mary started the Randy Travis Foundation to provide support for victims of stroke and cardiovascular diseases.