Listen to Me Today

Being Challenged by not being able to speak can have a huge impact on how you see yourself. An active normal life can literally change over night. Lt.Col. David “Dutch” Helms tells his story about how he met his challenge and again embraced life.

The early 1990′s were my not best years, to put it mildly. I separated from my wife in 1990 with the divorce taking a year before it was final. In the interim, I had met another woman and fallen madly in love with her. We planned to tie the knot in September of 1992…but, 3 weeks prior to the wedding, she called it off and reconciled with her ex-husband instead. I was decimated!!

Shortly thereafter, I was diagnosed with cancer and radiation was recommended. At that time, I was stationed and living overseas – but was medivaced to the USAF Cancer Treatment Center, Wilford Hall, Lackland AFB, Texas….a great facility, but none of my friends or family near…. it was just me and doctors and nurses. No one ever told me about the IAL (International Association of Laryngectomees) or the existence of laryngectomee support groups, so I had no support help at that time. I found out about them later.

Unfortunately, the radiation failed to arrest the cancer and I quickly became severely depressed I could not stand the thought of going through the rest of my life with no voice and a hole in my neck. To that point, my entire life had been about talking and singing. My “jobs” had been military jet pilot, negotiator, teacher, instructor, coach, emcee for events, narrator, briefer, discussion leader, etc. I sang in choirs, barbershop quartets and choruses. I simply could not imagine going through life without a VOICE.

Thus, being told that a laryngectomy would be necessary, while I was still suffering from going through the divorce and the canceled wedding, really shocked my whole system. Lacking the nearby support of family and friends, drove me deep into depression and to near suicide. I simply couldn’t think of a reason to live.

Luckily I got help and spent over a month in a military mental health facility “getting a grip on life” again. Afterwords, I pressed ahead with treatments and finally the laryngectomy. After the surgery, my best friend since junior high school, with whom I had remained in contact over all the years, offered me the opportunity to live with him, his wife and family while I “recovered”. This gesture and experience really saved my life and finally got me out of most of the depression.

It forced me to be with people (in this case, two adults and three teenage girls) every day…forced me to talk, get accustomed to using my new voice in all sorts of social situations – shopping at the Mall, ordering pizza’s over the phone, and being there when they entertained their other friends. In essence, living with them forced me to become re-engaged in living.

At first, I felt like a freak with a computer voice and a funny hole in my neck. But this feeling gradually passed as I became more involved with “living a normal life”. I was thrilled when I traded in my electro-larynx for a TEP/prosthesis voice – that boosted my confidence in myself and my ability to communicate.

All this time, I was learning that being a laryngectomee was NOT the end of the world; that leading a good, interesting, and rewarding life was still possible. I’ve been “on my own” and in my own place now for almost 18 months, living as normal a life as possible and I love it!

Another thing that helped me cope was this silly computer!! Having the computer with its games and especially the Internet capability, has been a Godsend! This machine not only provided entertainment and education possibilities, but also the tools to learn new skills – Yes, old dogs can learn new tricks.

I quickly established a Home Page on the Internet and, as a lark, attempted to create a Larynx Cancer information site, primarily to help poor folks like me who, when initially diagnosed, needed help getting reliable information, assistance, support and guidance. This “info site” gradually blossomed into the WebWhispers Club that we have today. My association with the site, both creatively in building it and socially/psychologically in participating with everyone in it, has been extremely helpful in coping and living, and that is a gross understatement.

My suggestions for you:

1) See a doctor about possible physical problems – For example: I had thyroid problems but did not know it for a full year after surgery. Once placed on daily Synthroid tablets to take care of this, my attitude greatly improved.

2) Force yourself to become active and involved in life again, doing as much, as physically possible, of what you did before. You will feel self-conscious about your voice – but only at first. This feeling will pass with time and will pass sooner if you get out and use it in all situations. Nothing will happen if you just choose to sit at home and hide from people and life. You may think you are not ready….Hell, no one is ever ready to face things like this. But, waiting to be ready is not an alternative. Getting out is something you need to do, ready or not…. and you don’t GET ready until you start to DO something. Launch yourself back into life. Surround yourself with all the support you can. You will soon discover that it ain’t all that bad!!

3) Make sure, if possible, that you have something you can do and enjoy doing. Resurrect an old hobby, create a new one, set up a project to occupy your time, energy, brain power, and spirit!! Ideally, find something that requires interaction with other people. Try to help yourself find a good reason to get up every morning… other than to simply watch TV, read, and eat.

4) If all else fails and you are still depressed, seek professional psychological help with individual or group therapy.

I came through and so can you!!!

Dutch Helms, El Lago, Texas

Lt.Col. Dutch Helms founded WebWhispers.org

There is one area of medicine that a lot of people are making their way into in order to make a good living. This area that is experiencing a boom is speech pathology. Speech pathology is an area that deals with speech disorders and their treatment. One of the biggest speech disorders is stuttering. This is where the person struggles to speak and can be related to several factors. The primary reason that a person has this speech disorder can be related to them being shy of speaking in front of other people.

In Speech pathology, a speech pathologist is able to help a person get over this disorder and gain the confidence that they need to speak in front of people all the time without stuttering. Another person that may benefit from speech therapy, is a person that has recently been involved in an accident. Speech pathology can help in training a person to be able to speak again. This is helpful for a person who may have received a head injury and their ability to speak has been impaired. This is when a speech pathologist can help the person learn to speak all over again. These people are frustrated with the fact that they are not able to speak freely and express themselves without limits. This condition can lead to them feeling trapped in their own world, since they are not able to get their thoughts out effectively.
Continue: Speech Pathology-Helping People Speak Better

Jennifer Wenger
(301) 496-7243
jwenger@mail.nih.gov

Your ability to make sense of Groucho’s words and Harpo’s pantomimes in an old Marx Brothers movie takes place in the same regions of your brain, says new research funded by the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders (NIDCD), one of the National Institutes of Health.

In a study published in this week’s Early Edition of Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), researchers have shown that the brain regions that have long been recognized as a center in which spoken or written words are decoded are also important in interpreting wordless gestures. The findings suggest that these brain regions may play a much broader role in the interpretation of symbols than researchers have thought and, for this reason, could be the evolutionary starting point from which language originated.
Continue: Words, Gestures Are Translated by Same Brain Regions, Says New Research:

What happened in Chicago? Several weeks ago, there was a conference held by an Internet marketing group. Its name was Gateway to Wealth. The trip was impressive and full of surprises.

To start with, I wanted the experience of not having a voice, depending on myself alone, and go to an event with many other people. All strangers, but typical of a conference a person would attend. So I packed my clothes, gassed up the Jeep, and headed for the Windy City! It is a 5 hour drive. About half way there I was imagining what to wear at the different events. You can see what I was concerned about. Then there was a realization, my clothes were hanging in my closet at home! No longer was I dressing for success. In my mind for a second, I imagined people saying, “look at that poor guy, no voice, and no clothes.” A Quick analysis of what I was wearing, what was in my grip and it looked to me like a pair of pants and a shirt would get me through the weekend. Lesson # 1, don’t depend on your clothes to get you through. Continue: The Gateway to Chicago turns into a story…

The stronger your mind and body are, the better you will feel about yourself.
Try this fun routine for 8 minutes at home and begin finding the new you.
IF IT IS TO BE…IT IS UP TO ME…You determine the path you follow. Continue: Who Needs a Voice to Feel Better?

One week from today, the Gateway to Wealth Convention will open its doors with the Masters sharing information on the Internet marketing business. They will be sowing their knowledge about how to use Internet marketing and certain techniques to influence consumers to purchase products. Clarity on these ideas can only be gained through participation and questions. Too often the “voiceless” community insulate themselves from certain individuals who can dramatically change their lives. That avoidance is because the path they have been forced onto seems overwhelming and has dictated who they are. That, my quivering reader, is not the truth that you should be living by. Continue: Gateway to Wealth = Gateway to Freedom

Two weeks from now, I will be in Chicago at Keith Weldman and Gary Ambrose’s Gateway to Wealth Convention. I loved going to these events when I was in the broadcasting business. You met leaders in the industry, shared ideas, and met a boatload of bright people that you often worked with in the future. The Gateway to Wealth staff has been impressive…let me tell you how. Continue: Chicago … Gateway to Wealth Convention

What happens when a voiceless person goes to a 3 day convention with 100’s of Internet marketers, in Chicago and they are all strangers? The odds of being the only person there that does not speak is high. Yet, it is important to be able to communicate with others, to learn from them, as well make meaningful contacts to help propel my Internet business to a new level. It is something to think about… Continue: On My Own

By Roger Ebert

I mentioned that I can no longer eat or drink. A reader wrote: “That sounds so sad. Do you miss it?” Not so much really. Not anymore. Understand that I was never told that after surgery I might lose the ability to eat, drink and speak. Eating and drinking were not mentioned, and it was said that after surgery I might actually be able to go back to work on television. Continue: Nil by mouth