When speaking hurts: Finding faith through spasmodic dysphonia

Nekeisha Camille shares her journey of losing her voice to spasmodic dysphonia and discovering a deeper faith through suffering and silence. Her story explores healing, identity and the unexpected ways God can bring purpose through pain.

I cannot begin to count the number of times I have been asked, “What happened to your voice?” My answer is always the same: “I woke up like this.”

I remember going to the doctor for something completely unrelated to my voice. During the appointment, he suddenly asked, “Aren’t you worried about that?” I had noticed some changes in my speech beforehand but never thought it was something serious.

Over the following months, my voice deteriorated rapidly. There were mornings when I would wake up and struggle to form a coherent sentence without feeling as though my vocal cords were being torn apart. On my best days, my voice sounded trembly and broken, and my speech was barely recognisable. Conversations became exhausting. People struggled to understand me, and with that came a level of fear and anxiety I had never experienced.