Finding a Voice

Life Changing

BBC

Personal Journals, Society & Culture

4.6 • 735 Ratings

🗓️ 25 December 2024

⏱️ 29 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

On the threshold of the first COVID lockdown when people were preparing for the unknown, a mother of two young children from Leeds was given a Life Changing diagnosis. Tanja Bage had always been a keen singer and performer and so was increasingly aware of her shortness of breath. There had been several attempts to deal with it, but nothing worked. Eventually she had an appointment with an Ear, Nose and Throat specialist. The diagnosis was cancer, which required almost immediate surgery to remove the tumour, and with it her vocal chords. She would be losing her voice, and she had just a week to prepare herself and her family. Tanja describes that pre-Covid frenzy, the support she received and the challenges of being a mother while having to re-learn how to speak using a Stoma in her neck. Her mix of passion and stoicism meant that not only did she recover after the massively intrusive operation, but she is now involved in artistic ventures with the Laryngectomy choir and the Sound Voice project as well as being a brilliant mother to her children.

Producer: Tom Alban

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	Hello, I'm Greg Jenner. I'm the host of Your Dead to Me, where the best names in comedy and history
0:05.5	join me to learn about and laugh at the past. You are a traitor. And in the new series, we'll meet
0:11.2	Aristotle. I think he might have been a time traveller. Someone who's like almost a glitch.
0:15.3	We'll dive into the causes of the British Civil Wars in the 1600s. In England at this period,
0:19.8	there's people can't get on the housing ladder.
0:21.5	This sounds familiar. And we'll discover the arts and crafts movement. I love the clothes. I love
0:26.5	the vibe. Yes, we're a comedy show that takes history seriously and then laughs at it. You're dead to me.
0:31.3	Listen first on BBC Sounds.
0:34.3	BBC Sounds. Music, radio, podcasts. You're about to listen to the latest series of Life-changing.
0:41.9	Episodes will be released weekly wherever you get your podcasts, but if you're in the UK,
0:47.3	you can listen to the latest episodes first on BBC Sounds. Today on Life-Changing, a young woman with a partner and two small children, enjoying family
0:58.3	life in Leeds, working, busy and still finding time to indulge her passion for singing
1:04.8	and appearing in local productions.
1:07.4	And then, Tanya Borger began to feel breathless.
1:11.1	Investigations revealed the reason why,
1:13.7	and her voice, which meant so much to her, was suddenly taken away.
1:19.2	We've heard on the programme before just how much your voice can define you
1:24.0	and what its loss can mean.
1:26.2	But I think when you hear Tanya's, you'll perhaps understand
1:29.6	just how dramatic a change that must have been for her and those around her. Tanya, hello.
1:37.2	Hello. Thank you for having me. Oh, it's so good to see you. Thank you for coming in.
1:41.8	Oh, and congratulations because you've just got married to your
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from BBC, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of BBC and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.