Hi my name is Kevin and I just had my 13th brain surgery. I have hydrocephalus and recently had a shunt revision and a disc replacement in my neck all at the same time. During the surgery one of my vocal cords was damaged and now I am having trouble speaking. I have pain from the surgery on top of pain from the raspiness of my vocal cords trying to heal.

I will likely need another surgery to try and fix the vocal cord and nerve that was damaged from when I was intubated during surgery.

I have been out of work since my surgery in November and I am a language teacher. The doctor says that my voice may never recover fully. I just finished a masters in ESOL education and If my voice doesn’t recover then my degree is partially wasted. Having a clear voice to teach speech and language is important.

Also with my additional surgery scheduled on 12/13 I will need months of speech and voice therapy which will likely be costly. This is on top of the physical therapy that I am already doing 3 days a week to help my hydrocephalus pain and mobility. 

I really want to get back to teaching and learning! It may be a long road ahead but I just want to get back to work!