Current:Home > NewsThis opera singer lost his voice after spinal surgery. Then he met someone who changed his life. -FutureWise Finance
This opera singer lost his voice after spinal surgery. Then he met someone who changed his life.
View
Date:2025-04-18 11:31:41
Since joining choir in high school, Albert Garcia knew his passion was singing. He sang in church, started studying opera and performed at gigs. But in 2021, Garcia temporarily lost his gift when he was diagnosed with spinal damage that accrued over a decade and required surgery.
"Because of where the damage was and how close it was to the vocal cords – and just how fragile the vocal cords are themselves – with that surgery, the nerve connecting to my vocal cords got stretched and so that caused vocal paralysis on the right side," Garcia, now 34, told CBS News.
He said the diagnosis of vocal cord paralysis hit him "like a brick wall."
"I had felt that music was the only thing I was particularly good at, the one thing I had constant in my life. So I went into a deep state of depression," he said.
Vocal cord paralysis occurs when the nerve impulses to the larynx — the area of the throat with the vocal cords — are disrupted, according to the Mayo Clinic. It results in a lack of control over the muscles that control your voice and can make speaking and breathing difficult. The condition can be treated with surgery or voice therapy.
After his spinal surgery, Albert worked with a physical therapist to regain his physical strength. Then, he regained his voice with Dr. Marina-Elvira Papangelou, a speech-language pathologist at TIRR Memorial Hermann in Houston.
It took nearly a year of therapy, but thanks to Papangelou, Garcia regained his ability to sing. "He has made a tremendous change. He has learned to breathe properly again, to bring his pitch down and focus his voice," she told CBS News via email.
Garcia thanked Papangelou in the best way he knew how, with a performance. The song he chose was a meaningful one: "For Good" from the Broadway musical "Wicked."
"This is where they sing to each other about how important they are to each other," Garcia said. "And if they never meet again, that at least they know they've been a good influence and a good change in each other's lives."
"It really spoke to me because it goes, 'It well may be that we will never meet again in this lifetime. So let me say before we part, so much of me is made of what I learned from you. You'll be with me like a handprint on my heart.' That, I feel like, is the exact relationship I had with my speech therapist because I just learned so much from her."
Garcia also presented Papangelou with a plaque inscribed with the lyrics. "You've not only changed my life, but you've also given back what I thought I was never going to get. So, thank you so much," he said to her through tears as he presented the gift.
Papanagelou is modest about the impact she made. "I think that I made a difference in his life, but I don't think it was me. I think it was him because he did all of the work," she said.
Unlike the characters in Wicked, Garcia and Papangelou have crossed paths again. She's no longer his therapist – but instead a friend in the audience at his recent opera performance.
Caitlin O'KaneCaitlin O'Kane is a digital content producer covering trending stories for CBS News and its good news brand, The Uplift.
veryGood! (4667)
Related
- Krispy Kreme offers a free dozen Grinch green doughnuts: When to get the deal
- Fantasy football winners, losers: Chase Brown making case for more touches
- Allies of imprisoned Kremlin foe Navalny sound the alarm, say they haven’t heard from him in 6 days
- Did inflation drift lower in November? CPI report could affect outlook for interest rates
- 'We're reborn!' Gazans express joy at returning home to north
- Aaron Rodgers spent days in total darkness and so did these people. But many say don't try it.
- Police responding to burglary kill a man authorities say was armed with knife
- Vanderpump Rules Season 11 Trailer Teases Another Shocking Hookup Scandal
- Head of the Federal Aviation Administration to resign, allowing Trump to pick his successor
- Kentucky judge strikes down charter schools funding measure
Ranking
- Intel's stock did something it hasn't done since 2022
- 'The Crown' Season 6, Part 2: Release date, cast, trailer, how to watch final episodes
- A countdown to climate action
- Supreme Court declines challenge to Washington state's conversion therapy ban for minors
- Backstage at New York's Jingle Ball with Jimmy Fallon, 'Queer Eye' and Meghan Trainor
- Golden Globes announce 2024 nominations. See the full list of nominees.
- An unpublished poem by 'The Big Sleep' author Raymond Chandler is going to print
- Miss Nicaragua pageant director announces her retirement after accusations of ‘conspiracy’
Recommendation
Off the Grid: Sally breaks down USA TODAY's daily crossword puzzle, Triathlon
Cardi B confirms split with husband Offset: 'I been single for a minute now'
Lupita Nyong’o will head the jury at the annual Berlin film festival in February
Arizona remains at No. 1 in the USA TODAY Sports men's basketball poll
McKinsey to pay $650 million after advising opioid maker on how to 'turbocharge' sales
Hunter Biden pushes for dismissal of gun case, saying law violates the Second Amendment
Heart of Hawaii’s historic Lahaina, burned in wildfire, reopens to residents and business owners
Work to resume at Tahiti’s legendary Olympic surfing site after uproar over damage to coral reef