Man With Transplanted Voice Box Speaking Again

B O S T O N, May 31 -- Twenty years ago, Timothy Heidler was in a motorcycle accident that left him unable to speak. But the first successful larynx surgery in the United States has restored his voice.

"People love to talk to me now, I mean they understand me, they always say, 'boy your voice sounds so good,'" Heidler said. "Communication is the key to everything, without communication your life does not work."

He sometimes gives motivational speeches to patients and support groups.

The successful larynx transplant was the first in the United States, and was actually completed three years ago. Although his voice was raspy at first, Heidler's voice has gradually become normal. A study detailing the surgery's success is being published in the New England Journal of Medicine.

Could Help Cancer Patients

And ABCNEWS' Dr. Tim Johnson said that success is good news for thousands of people without voice boxes who might be able to benefit from the same operation.

"There are several thousand a year in this country alone, whohave to have the voice box removed because of cancer," Johnson said. "They are going to be looking for this operation as a new possibility."

The operation on Heidler was the first of its kind, and it was somewhat controversial because he faced all the risks of a major surgery for what is considered a non-vital organ.

There was a failed attempt to do a voice box transplant about 30 years ago, Johnson said. The operation was performed on a Belgian patient.

Heidler’s Hazardous Shortcut

But it's been a long road for Heidler, a former firefighter who used to love to ride his motorcycle while growing up in Altoona, Pa. One day in 1978, he was taking a shortcut down a road, where unknown to him, a cable had been hung between two trees to discourage cyclists. It caught him across the throat, destroying his voice box.

For the next 20 years, the only way he could make sounds was to use a tone- producing device that he manipulated with is lips and tongue to form words.