Most people have had a bad cold or laryngitis. Your voice usually clears up in a couple of weeks. But what if that raspy, gravely voice lingered - for three decades?
Thirty years ago, Betty Lou Truant lost her voice…and it never came back.
"It was about 1982 when I developed a bad cold, had a very bad case of laryngitis," said Betty Lou.
Betty Lou recovered from her illness, but her voice didn't. One of her vocal cords was paralyzed.
"Probably 25 to 35 percent of the people we see who have a paralyzed vocal cord have it due to a virus," Dr. Michael Benninger explained.
Dr. Benninger operated on Betty Lou at the Cleveland Clinic. He put an implant in her throat designed to push the paralyzed vocal cord back into place and allow the vocal cords to touch again and create sound.
Before the surgery, Betty Lou sounded breathy and raspy. Now, she has a voice.
Dr. Michael Benninger says, "I think the patients find it amazing because they go from this, to this, right on the operating table and it's like an eye opener for everybody in the room every time we do it."
A few months after the surgery, Betty Lou is making up for 30 years of lost time.
"I can't stop sometimes…I just talk and talk. I am just thrilled to death. I will be forever thankful," says Betty Lou.
She says she has 30 years of talking to make up for and is looking forward to catching up with her relatives.
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