A ‘full-throated’ rendition of national anthem

Throat cancer survivors rehearsing for I-Day celebrations leave their audience speechless

It was more than a show of patriotism as a motley group sang the national anthem — like millions across the country — in a rehearsal on the eve of India’s 72nd Independence Day. What got their audience on its feet was the rendition that some may term ‘voiceless’ but distinctly soulful.

For, the group did not comprise singers; not even people who can speak normally.

Cancer of the larynx, or throat cancer in common parlance, robbed them of their voice, and speech had to be learned afresh, in unimaginable ways.

Some used an electro-larynx — a hand-held device pressed to the throat — while others pressed their thumbs to their necks to facilitate sound speech through an implanted valve.

Sound of silence

“To even produce sound without the larynx is difficult. The sub-glottal capacity in persons without larynx is less than half of a person with the organ. It means, if a person can normally say 10 words before running out of breath, one without the larynx may only be able to say five,” says T.M. Rukmangathan, the speech therapist who has been working with the group at Basavatarakam Indo-American Cancer Hospital here.

The 20-odd group members have been practising the national anthem for nearly two months. They underwent larynx removal in the past five years and are mostly men with a history of smoking. A few women, too, are part of the group.

Chandra Sekhar Rao, senior consultant at the hospital’s Head and Neck wing, said the group decided to sing to show that disability can be overcome. The fear of losing voice deters those affected by laryngeal cancer to undergo removal, which may be essential to combat the cancer. “Laryngeal cancer is said to constitute about 5% of all cancers in India. Nearly a third of laryngeal cancer patients need to have the larynx removed,” says Dr. Rao.

P.S.S.V. Prasad Rao, a 48-year-old survivor who works as a civil contractor in Hyderabad, shares, “On this occasion, I want to give courage to those going through what I have gone through. The fear of losing voice, besides facing a dreadful disease like cancer, can drive many to depression and suicide. But with family by one’s side, it can be conquered and voice regained.”