Summary
Being a TV news anchor was everything to Polly Evans until she was forced to re-evaulate her identity. Her turning point happened in the spotlight – in front of an audience of hundreds of thousands – when she felt deeply exposed and humiliated. It was caused by a physical condition called Adductor Spasmodic Dysphonia, but Polly’s journey since then has been one of self-knowledge and finding fulfilment in other ways, including a new career.
She braves the studio for the first time to tell this story to Dr Sian Williams.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Eleven climbers appeared to have died on the world's second highest mountain K2. |
| 0:06.0 | It was one of the deadliest days in mountaineering history. |
| 0:10.0 | Rock falls, avalanches. |
| 0:11.0 | Huge pieces of ice. All are big enough to kill you. |
| 0:14.0 | He just flew out into Devoid and he was gone. |
| 0:17.0 | How did it all go so wrong? |
| 0:19.0 | And is it really worth risking death to feel alive? Why would |
| 0:23.2 | somebody pay to go to a place called the death cell on a vacation? Extreme, peak danger. With me, |
| 0:29.9 | Natalia Melman Petrazella. Listen to the full series now. First on BBC Sounds. BBC Sounds, music, radio, podcasts. |
| 0:40.0 | Welcome to the series that hears from people who've had transformative moments that shift their perspective on life forever. |
| 0:47.3 | In this episode, someone you might have invited into your home regularly, a familiar face and voice, especially to viewers of BBC Southeast today. |
| 0:57.1 | Polly Evans was a presenter of the regional news, a job she had invested everything in and had been doing regularly for eight years. |
| 1:05.8 | And then one day, while staring down the barrel of a camera lens presenting live, |
| 1:13.7 | something happened that shook her to her core, |
| 1:19.4 | leaving her questioning her identity, her future, and rendering her speechless. |
| 1:22.9 | Talking is still not easy for her today. |
| 1:27.9 | So, Polly, with that in mind, thanks very much for being with me in the studio this morning. |
| 1:30.7 | How are you feeling, being back in the BBC? |
| 1:37.4 | It's both very comforting in a way because I feel like I grew up at the BBC. |
| 1:39.8 | I started working here. |
| 1:48.4 | Gosh, I was 23, 24, and I've been to Broadcasting House so many times. |
| 1:55.0 | It's very familiar, but it's also quite triggering for want to a better expression because this is where I came to try and set my life on a different track when everything went horribly, horribly wrong. |
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