(Music) Our voice, naturally a large
part of our identity.
It's who we are but imagine a
world in which your ability to communicate is challenged after
you've undergone a surgery called
laryngectomy.
Well the good news is thanks to advances
in modern technology there are a number
of ways to help you get your voice back.
Joining us with insight is Meaghan Kane-Benjamin
of Atos Medical.
And later on
you're going to meet a man, who can now
chat it up again with the best of them.
Good morning Meaghan.
Good morning.
Thanks for being here.
Thanks for having me.
You know before we talk about
laryngectomy.
I think about you know the voice.
I need my voice to do my job and I take it
for granted.
You probably only notice your
voice when you lose it and you can't do
your job.
It's very inconvenient when you
don't have a voice and that's of course
it's laryngitis, but now let's talk more
about laryngectomy.
What is that?
Laryngectomy is the removal of the
larynx or vocal cords.
iI's located in
your neck.
If you put your hand up here
you can feel the vibration when you talk.
Let me see for a second, absolutely.
Yeah okay and then when you swallow
you feel the larynx move.
The primary
function of the larynx is actually to
protect the airway from food and liquid
going down the wrong pipe.
Secondary is really to produce sound, which
is your voice.
Now this may seem like a silly
question, but can we speak without a
larynx or a voice box?
You can speak
without a larynx or voice box.
We just need to find an alternative
sound source.
Which is oftentimes the esophagus.
Okay, so when I think of laryngectomy,
I don't know if you think about this?
I think
about those anti-smoking ads that we see.
You know which ones?
Yes!
They're very competitive.
So compelling because the
objective is to get people not to smoke right?
But, most of the 3,500 laryngectomies,
that's new laryngectomies each year that
have surgery and go on to live very
fulfilling lives.
So there is life after
laryngectomy?
Absoulety.
Now the great news, is there
is technology that's helping people get
their voice back.
Absolutely and it's
this.
What?
Just that?
Just that.
It is called a voice prosthesis.
There's a surgical
opening between the trachea and the
esophagus and this voice prosthesis gets
placed, just like this and so there's one
part sits in the esophagus, one part in the
trachea and when the patient goes to
talk they cover the stoma, that they're
breathing through.
It shunts the air
through here and causes the esophagus to
vibrate and the beauty of it is that
there is a small valve on the backside so when the
patient is drinking and eating the food and
liquid doesn't flow back into the
lungs.
Fascinating.
Now tell me what this is
here?
So this is amazing, this is called
the flexi voice, this is placed on the
outside of the stoma and it's a, it's a,
it's a pressure-sensitive membrane so
that the patient can talk without using
their hands to cover.
Oh my good ness.
Which is basically what they were doing
before they had surgery.
And then we have you
know H.M.E.
the heat moisture exchanger.
Just in a nutshell, this is your new nose
this is what you put on to help warm
humidify the air which is very important
to the health of your lungs and there's
one for the day and there's also one for
the evening.
Now I know we have a clip
with some patients who are using this
technology.
Oh great I want to hear what
they have to say, so let's take a look
real quick.
I'm the luckiest in the world.
I had cancer and lost my voice.
I've now got it back and when people see
me, from I was normal.
Haven't seen me for a while.
And to see me talk to the them now.
They saty, it's just like having you back Bill.
Everyday me and my wife go for a walk and
when we walk, we talk.
[Music] To use the hand free speaking
back is giving me the possibility to live a
very active life.
Hello, my name is Torak Islam and I have
a voice.
Truly remarkable and just changing
lives.
It's amazing.
All right, amazing
also is our next guest, so stay right
there because we're going to take a
quick break and when we come back we're
going to meet a man who is now talking up
a storm.
Thanks to this great technology.
We'll be right back (Music)
(Music) Before the break, we were
discussing laryngectomy.
A surgery in which the
Voicebox, The larynx, is taken out.
It's usually
performed in advanced stages of cancer.
Well joining me once again is Meaghan Kane-Benjamin
and also now is joining me is
Henry Childress.
Good morning.
Thanks for having me.
No, thank you so much for being
here.
For sharing your story tell me, tell me, what
happened?
We had a New Years Eve party at my house and the next
morning I woke up horsed.
Which happens to many people.
Especially after a New Years Eve party.
Oh course, you were having a lot of fun.
So I started going to the doctor
and getting antibiotics, going to the doctor,
getting antibiotics, on my wife fianlly told me
we need to see a specialist.
You weren't getting better.
I wasn't getting better.
I went to one specialist and they found
a nodule on the vocal cord and even he's the one that
found that I had stage four tumor on
my vocal cords.
So what were your options?
They start out with chemo and we had chemo
for two rounds in the
second round like a bad reaction.
Mm-hmm. and so they pulled me off of it.
and sent me back down to doctor's office
and he put the tube back down me.
The tumor was growing.
So he rushed
me into surgery and cut the tumor out.
And then I got a trach right there so I
can breath.
Mm-hmm.
And then you realize
you had to have a laryngectomy.
When I come out of it, he talked to my
wife and I, There's two options,
I could not have the laryngectomy.
He could maybe give me six months, two
months, or have the laryngectomy.
And that's decision we
had to lmake.
This is very common Meaghan,
where you're misdiagnosed time passes
and then maybe something like this can
happen?
Yes, because there's so many
causes of hoarseness and it's cancer,
laryngeal cancer is relatively rare so
it's not the first thing.
Now Henry, I was
reading here you've been married for 36 years,
congratulations.
Two children and three grandchildren
and one in about for another week.
Congratulations there, so when you
underwent the laryngectomy, how how was
your life, what were you doing how did it
change your life?
it must've been very
difficult?
I can only imagine Very difficult.
Ummm.
All right so let's move on.
So you got
the technology and then that helped all
that bad stuff go away.
Right, so let's
talk let's talk about the positive stuff.
How did this technology then change your
life?
Like the person I was before?
What were you able to start doing?
Play with my grandkids without talking to
them and trying to write.
They didn't know what I was saying.
Community support really important in
the situation?
Advocacy?
There's such a small number of people that get
a total laryngectomy, every
year.
That they need access to other people that
have gone through it and to
education.
Having people like Henry doing things
like this helps raise awareness and then
there's so many events and activities.
There local support groups, there's
national things and I think that really
helps with the understanding of what
the future could hold.
I just want to give back now.
I meet with patients before they have the surgeries.
I like to help the patients, the people.
So Henry, I want you to use your
beautiful voice and tell anyone out
there who is hesitant about getting this
surgery, what would you tell us.
First of all I would tell them, if you
don't get the answer from one doctor,
go to another doctor.
Until you get the right answer,
Don't go with the doctor if they tell you you need the
laryngectomy.
See if they have got a patient waiting you can
talk too.
That made all the difference in the
world for me.
Changed your life.
Changed my l ife.
For more information on how to reclaim
your voice visit AtosMedical.us that's
Atosmedical.us.
or go to our website thebalancingact.com
(Music)