230: Vanessa lost her voice

What Was That Like - True Stories. Real People.

Scott Johnson & Glassbox Media

True Crime, Documentary, Personal Journals, Society & Culture

4.6 • 1.7K Ratings

🗓️ 19 September 2025

⏱️ 75 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

How scary would it be, if you suddenly lost your ability to speak? There was a story in the news about a man named Peter. When Peter was 73 years old, he had a stroke. He survived the stroke, but he found that he could no longer speak. And it looked like that condition was permanent, because after 4 years, he still had no voice. But then, Peter was on vacation with his wife Carol, and their son Jonathan. And one day Peter just woke up, and he was able to speak again. He just started speaking, and Carol said, “Peter, you’re speaking!” Then she said, “Don’t stop, keep talking! It might go away again!” Jonathan was in the next room and heard two people having a conversation and came rushing in wondering what was happening. They all started crying and laughing at the same time. It was a very emotional time because it had been so long. Later that day, Peter found out that he had had ANOTHER stroke. They wondered if whatever damage the first stroke had done, was now UNdone by the second stroke. Doctors were doubtful of that, but even they didn’t have an explanation. Peter is just happy to have his voice back. My guest today is Vanessa. She experienced something similar – some kind of sudden, mysterious condition that showed up with multiple symptoms, including taking away her voice. What makes Vanessa’s story even more fascinating is her career – she’s a speech therapist. If you’d like to contact Vanessa: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/speechless_slp/?hl=en Her book: Speechless: How a Speech Therapist Lost Her Ability to Speak and Her Silent Struggle to Reclaim Her Voice and Life – https://www.amazon.com/Speechless-Therapist-Ability-Struggle-Reclaim/dp/B0DS96R6XT Full show notes and pictures for this episode are here: https://WhatWasThatLike.com/230 Graphics for this episode by Bob Bretz. Transcription was done by James Lai. Want to discuss this episode and other things with thousands of other WWTL listeners? Join our podcast Facebook group at WhatWasThatLike.com/facebook (many of the podcast guests are there as well) Get every episode ad-free, AND get all the Raw Audio exclusive episodes to binge, by joining the other listeners at What Was That Like PLUS. Try What Was That Like PLUS free: iPhone: at the top of the What Was That Like podcast feed, click on “Try free” Android: on your phone, go to WhatWasThatLike.com/PLUS and click to try it free on any app Sponsor deals: If you’re 21 or older, get 25% OFF your first order + free shipping @IndaCloud with code [WHATWAS] at https://inda.shop/[WHATWAS]! #indacloudpod Go to ThriveMarket.com/WHATWAS to get 30% off your first order, plus a FREE $60 gift just for signing up. Go to Quince.com/whatwas for free shipping on your order and 365-day returns! Get 15% off OneSkin with the code [WHATWAS] at https://www.oneskin.co/ #oneskinpod Try Mint Mobile for 3 months, for just 15 bucks a month - MintMobile.com/WHAT Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	How scary would it be if you suddenly lost your ability to speak?
0:09.8	There was a story in the news about a man named Peter.
0:13.5	When Peter was 73 years old, he had a stroke.
0:18.0	He survived the stroke, but he found that he could no longer speak. And it looked like
0:23.1	that condition was permanent because after four years, he still had no voice. But then Peter was on
0:31.0	vacation with his wife Carol and their son Jonathan. And one day, Peter just woke up, and he was able to speak again.
0:40.4	He just started speaking, and Carol said,
0:43.1	Peter, you're speaking.
0:45.2	Then she said, don't stop, keep talking.
0:47.7	It might go away again.
0:50.6	Jonathan was in the next room and heard two people having a conversation and came rushing
0:56.0	in wondering what was happening.
0:58.0	They all started crying and laughing at the same time.
1:02.0	It was a very emotional time because it had been so long.
1:07.0	Later that day, Peter found out that he had had another stroke.
1:13.6	They wondered if whatever damage the first stroke had done was now undone by the second stroke.
1:21.6	Doctors were doubtful of that, but even they didn't have an explanation. Peter's just happy to have his voice back.
1:31.3	My guest today is Vanessa.
1:35.3	She experienced something similar, some kind of sudden, mysterious condition that showed up with multiple symptoms, including taking away her voice.
1:49.5	What makes Vanessa's story even more fascinating is her career. She's a speech therapist.
2:05.6	Real people in unreal situations. The eerie silence when I walked in and he's just staring at me.
2:11.6	I was like, hello, like, are you okay?
	...

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