Voice box helps throat cancer survivor raise his voice against tobacco

Robert Ndegwa started smoking while in high school.

He developed cancer of his larynx in 2003 because of smoking. The larynx was removed and in its place he now has an electronic voice box, a voice generator.

Now he lifts is voice to campaign against tobacco.

Monday was World No Tobacco Day, its theme, ‘Commit to Quit.’ Ndegwa told his story:

Ndegwa was diagnosed with cancer of the larynx by doctors at the Kenyatta National Hospital.

They recommended chemotherapy to kill the cancer cells in his throat. He almost gave up because of the pain.

“I felt like quitting therapy quit because of the pain but I had a very encouraging wife who urged me to continue till the end. I suffered because of the pain, I wasn’t able to eat anything and I became very weak,” Ndegwa said.

“All this time I was praying to that I recover and I vowed to myself that when I recover I will campaign against tobacco use until my dying day,” he added.

Ndegwa said he suffered loss of saliva and sores on his tongue. There was financial and psychological pain as well.

The cancer recurred seven years later.

This time, KNH doctors recommended surgery to remove his larynx. He travelled to India for 10 to 12 hours of surgery. He was hospitalised for two and a half months.

“By the time I came out of the theatre, I didn’t have a voice box and I could not talk, I could only whisper. All these are consequences of cigarette smoking,” he said.

He returned to Kenya after successful surgery but was fed on liquids through nasogastric tubes for six months.

He now uses an electrolarynx, a medical device  the size of a small electric razor. It produces clearer speech by those who have lost their voice box, usually due to cancer of the larynx.

The device costs at least Sh120,000.

“As I continued recovering, I continued telling myself I will continue campaigning against tobacco use so I can save somebody else  who won’t have to go through the same thing I went through,” Ndegwa said.

Tobacco is a major risk factor for Non Communicable Diseases such as cancer, respiratory diseases and cardiovascular diseases.