{"id":28499,"date":"2022-12-02T10:00:48","date_gmt":"2022-12-02T10:00:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.cancerresearchuk.org\/?p=24953"},"modified":"2024-11-03T15:13:11","modified_gmt":"2024-11-03T15:13:11","slug":"breaking-the-silence-when-cancer-steals-your-voice","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ogkologos.com\/en\/breaking-the-silence-when-cancer-steals-your-voice\/","title":{"rendered":"Breaking the silence: when cancer steals your voice"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"LorenLoren (left) and Dinny (right), who both lost their voices during their cancer treatment<\/p>

” data-medium-file=”https:\/\/news.cancerresearchuk.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/Breaking-the-silence-hero-300×168.jpg” data-large-file=”https:\/\/news.cancerresearchuk.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/Breaking-the-silence-hero.jpg”><\/p>

Loren (left) and Dinny (right), who both lost their voices during their cancer treatment<\/p><\/div>

<\/h4>\n

Human beings face many of their worst demons by expressing their emotions and sharing their experiences with others. For most patients, speaking out about a cancer diagnosis and voicing worries, fears, highs and lows, is an important way of dealing with the experience.<\/p>\n

We use our voices to communicate pain, fear, hope, love, joy; it is our way of reaching out to other people and giving and receiving support, comfort and validation.<\/p>\n

So what happens when cancer takes away your ability to speak, robbing you of the fundamental communication we all take for granted?<\/p>\n

Both Dinny and Loren suffered that exact fate. They had different types of cancer, but in both cases, the disease and its treatment took away their voices.<\/p>\n

Until, of course, they found a way to break the silence.<\/p>\n

Loren\u2019s story<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Dental nurse Loren, 48, from Shropshire can now speak jokingly about the voice prosthesis<\/a> that makes her sound \u2018like Marge Simpson\u2019.<\/p>\n

But there was a time when Loren, robbed of her voicebox by cancer, was so despairing she wrote notes on bits of paper begging doctors to let her die.<\/p>\n

Loren was left mute for weeks and unable to eat solid food for a year after a tumour grew from her salivary glands and wrapped itself round the nerves and structures in her neck.<\/p>\n

She was diagnosed with adenoid cystic carcinoma<\/a> in April 2019 after months of breathlessness, headaches, earache, and a feeling that something was stuck in her throat.<\/p>\n

She said: \u201cThe tumour had grown downwards from my salivary gland and was protruding into my airway. It had grown slowly for years, taking over my whole neck.\u201d<\/p>\n

Loren had a ten-hour operation during which the tumour, her larynx, thyroid, saliva glands and part of her oesophagus were removed, and her stomach was pulled up.<\/p>\n

Fighting back from rock bottom<\/b><\/h3>\n

After surgery, the first thing she did was take a selfie, to reassure her autistic son that she was alright. But two days later reality kicked in and Loren hit rock bottom, writing on bits of paper to ask the doctors to withdraw her feeding tube and let her die.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe cancer nurse sat by my side all day on that terrible day. But the next morning I realised I had to put my \u2018big girl pants\u2019 on and get on with life, because I had to live for my son. So, I learned to manage my own feeding tube and medications, and determined to embrace my new way of living.\u201d<\/p>\n

Loren lost three stone in weight on her liquid diet. After a second operation to make the tracheosophageal voice prosthesis (TEP), she had seven weeks of intensive radiotherapy<\/a> to her neck.<\/p>\n

She had to learn to speak using the TEP, which is permanently sited in her throat. She presses a valve to control the airflow, and this enables her to speak.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople are sometimes freaked out by the voice. It is a rough, rasping sound \u2013 I call it my \u2018Marge Simpson\u2019 voice. Some people stare at the valve in my throat, talking instead to my friends as if I am invisible.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n

\u201cI wouldn\u2019t go out of the house at first, but now I don\u2019t let anything hold me back: I\u2019ve learned to eat again, I work, I socialise and exercise at the gym. I even gave a speech at my friend\u2019s wedding!\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Despite a routine scan in October 2020 showing that Loren\u2019s cancer had come back in her lungs and is now inoperable, she is determined to live life as normally as possible and do her utmost to share her experience.<\/p>\n

\u201cI just need people to know that there is life after a laryngectomy<\/a>. It takes time, but you will get there. It\u2019s so important to have a voice and use it, no matter how your voice sounds\u201d.<\/p>\n

Dinny\u2019s story<\/strong><\/h2>\n
Dinny with her children Allison and Adrian at Race for Life in 2019<\/p>

” data-medium-file=”https:\/\/news.cancerresearchuk.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/Allison-Adrian-Dinny-Hinds-at-Race-2019.jpg” data-large-file=”https:\/\/news.cancerresearchuk.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/Allison-Adrian-Dinny-Hinds-at-Race-2019.jpg” loading=”lazy” class=” size-full wp-image-24985″ src=”https:\/\/news.cancerresearchuk.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/Allison-Adrian-Dinny-Hinds-at-Race-2019.jpg” alt=”Dinny with her children Allison and Adrian at Race for Life in 2019″ width=”200″ height=”200″ srcset=”https:\/\/news.cancerresearchuk.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/Allison-Adrian-Dinny-Hinds-at-Race-2019.jpg 200w, https:\/\/news.cancerresearchuk.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/Allison-Adrian-Dinny-Hinds-at-Race-2019-150×150.jpg 150w, https:\/\/news.cancerresearchuk.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/Allison-Adrian-Dinny-Hinds-at-Race-2019-96×96.jpg 96w” sizes=”(max-width: 200px) 100vw, 200px”><\/p>

Dinny with her children Allison and Adrian at Race for Life in 2019<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Dinny Hinds loves to sing. Whether that\u2019s in church, at home, around the shops \u2013 her voice has always brought joy to those around her. So when she was told not to even speak after surgery to remove her thyroid gland, she admits she struggled.<\/p>\n

The 75-year-old mum of two was still working as a nurse at the time so the thought of losing her voice was especially difficult.<\/p>\n

\u201cI remember asking the doctor how long I\u2019d got left because it felt like a death sentence,\u201d said Dinny who was diagnosed with thyroid cancer<\/a> in 2005 after finding a lump in her neck. \u201cI was shocked beyond belief, but they told me I would survive. The next shock was being told that I might need to have a tracheostomy<\/a> and speak through a tube.<\/p>\n

\n

\u201cI love to sing so I was very scared and, even though I didn\u2019t need a tube fitted, I was told not to speak to people for quite a long time after surgery as the operation had paralysed my vocal chord. That was very difficult for me.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Dinny, who had already had a cancerous lump cut from her tongue<\/a> two years earlier, needed further surgery after the life-saving operation paralysed her left vocal cord.<\/p>\n

Dinny as a newly qualified nurse<\/p>

” data-medium-file=”https:\/\/news.cancerresearchuk.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/Dinny-as-newly-qualified-nurse.jpg” data-large-file=”https:\/\/news.cancerresearchuk.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/Dinny-as-newly-qualified-nurse.jpg” loading=”lazy” class=” size-full wp-image-24983″ src=”https:\/\/news.cancerresearchuk.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/Dinny-as-newly-qualified-nurse.jpg” alt=”Dinny as a newly qualified nurse” width=”200″ height=”200″ srcset=”https:\/\/news.cancerresearchuk.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/Dinny-as-newly-qualified-nurse.jpg 200w, https:\/\/news.cancerresearchuk.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/Dinny-as-newly-qualified-nurse-150×150.jpg 150w, https:\/\/news.cancerresearchuk.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/Dinny-as-newly-qualified-nurse-96×96.jpg 96w” sizes=”(max-width: 200px) 100vw, 200px”><\/p>

Dinny as a newly qualified nurse<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\u201cI had to have a balloon inserted into my left vocal cord to help me speak.\u201d said Dinny. \u201cAfter that I had speech therapy, but I had to retire from nursing because they said I would be unable to shout for help on the wards.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat was hard, but I was very glad to be alive and I was determined to keep talking and singing. Now I spend a lot of time telling people how important it is to check themselves carefully and visit the doctor if they spot anything unusual. If I hadn\u2019t noticed a lump while putting face cream on after my night shift, I might not be here today. I remain very thankful to all the doctors, nurses and scientists whose work saved my life.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy voice isn\u2019t quite the same because it\u2019s quite gravelly now, but I still sing around the house all the time and I love to sing in church. In fact, I sing like a bird now.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jane and Paula<\/em><\/p>\n

More on this topic<\/h3>\n<\/p>\n

Source<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Dinny with her children Allison and Adrian at Race for Life in 2019 Dinny Hinds loves to sing. Whether that\u2019s in church, at home, around the shops \u2013 her voice has always brought joy to those around her. So when she was told not to even speak after surgery to remove her thyroid gland, she […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5137],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-28499","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-world-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ogkologos.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28499","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ogkologos.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ogkologos.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ogkologos.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ogkologos.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=28499"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/ogkologos.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28499\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":43125,"href":"https:\/\/ogkologos.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28499\/revisions\/43125"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ogkologos.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=28499"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ogkologos.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=28499"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ogkologos.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=28499"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}