Roger Chevalier relearned how to communicate after cancer cells were found in his larynx

An Aussie man has opened up on his trauma and how he has been able to bounce back.

Hien Pham speech pathologist with patient Roger Chevalier at the Royal Hobart Hospital. Speech pathology week 2024. Picture: Nikki Davis-Jones

Last year Roger Chevalier’s life changed in a way he’d never imagine.

“I’d been having a voice problems for a few months and they couldn’t find anything wrong,” he said.

“Eventually they did a biopsy and said you’ve got some cancerous nodes on your larynx. “Radiation fixed one side of the vocal chords but not the other.”

In January, he underwent a laryngectomy, which was his only option.

“The options were to have it or to have a shorter life and I kind of quite like life,” he said.

He now lives with a neck stoma, a hole created at the base of his neck to allow him to breathe, and he uses a voice prosthesis to communicate.

“I’ve kind of got used to it now, I still have moments where I think this is the shittiest thing, why me?”

“I never smoke, I’m not a heavy drinker, all the usual reasons why people have this didn’t really apply to me.

Hien Pham speech pathologist with patient Roger Chevalier at the Royal Hobart Hospital. Speech pathology week 2024. Picture: Nikki Davis-Jones

He said life was different and there were basic skills which he needed to relearn.

“You have to learn a bit more, how to eat, how to swallow, how to talk,” he said.

“I’m a fairly adaptable person so that’s helped a lot.”

But he said months on from his surgery, there were very few things he couldn’t do.

“I can’t swim, not that I was a big swimmer,” he said.

“You have to adapt to showering, I wear a collar to stop the water getting into it.

“You can lead a fairly normal life. I eat normally, I walk the dog everyday. There’s nothing I don’t do, except swim.”

He said he was grateful for the support of speech pathologists at the Royal Hobart Hospital who had helped him adjust.

“There are people you can talk to, there are people that explain what’s happening, they offer you counselling, there’s a lot of support,” he said.

Speech pathologist Hein Pham has been helping Mr Chevalier learn how to live with a voice prosthesis.

Her team do a lot of work with patients who have had laryngectomies.

“With speech pathology week this week the theme is ‘communicate your way’,” Ms Pham said.

“Roger communicates with a voice prosthesis, other people might communicate using an electrolarynx, or they might communicate using gesture or sign.

“It’s important to acknowledge everyone communicates differently, but at the core of it everyone has a message they want to get across, if you meet someone who communicates differently to you, be curious, be patient and let them get their message across.”

Originally published as Roger Chevalier relearned how to communicate after cancer cells were found in his larynx