Philippe Boucher's Rendez Vous: Jim Martin
Rendez-vous with Jim Martin
Throat Cancer survivor, volunteer public speaker with SAVE Survivors Empowerment Program, North Carolina Gasp, Wilmington
By Philippe Boucher
RENDEZ-VOUS 75
Wednesday, August 9 2000
Nota: I met with Jim Martin during the 11th world conference on Tobacco or Health in Chicago. A slightly different version of this interview was published in the daily journal of the conference (in the August 9th issue).
PB : Thank you Jim for accepting our rendez-vous. May I ask you to introduce yourself?
Jim Martin : Two years ago, in April 1998 I had my larynx box taken out. After the surgery I felt lonely, depressed, rejected. My wife shook me up : I learned how to speak with my stomach. I learned in 2,5 months. One per cent of the patients learn how to speak fluently that way but I was born with a voice and I want to die with my voice, not only speak through a machine. After the surgery most of the people feel ashamed to speak out. I don't hide the whole in the front of my neck, or anything. If somebody looks at my stoma (the whole in my neck) I only ask : " do you have a question ? ". It's mostly children who ask. Ma or Pa tries to keep them quiet. But I say that's allright and I talk with them. I explain that's how I breathe and they put their hand on the whole to feel the air. Then I explain it is because I was a bad boy and I smoked.
Q1. First question : how much did you smoke ? and is it difficult to learn speaking the way you do, with your stomach muscles?
JM : I used to smoke up to 3 packs a day of Marlboro and Basic. I'll be 50 next week. I used to drive a truck at night, starting at one in the morning. One day I thought I had a throat ache or a cold so I went to see my doctor and he prescribed antibiotics. It did not work and I finally went to a throat specialist who ordered tests. When he called me for an appointment on a Friday, I guessed I was in trouble, probably with cancer. I had at first radiation and went into remission for a few months then the cancer came back and I had to have surgery. I went to the hospital at 8 in the morning still with my voice. When I woke up at 11 in the evening I called for the nurse who was close to my bed but she did not appear to hear me. I had to shake the bed to get her attention. In your mind you still hear yourself talking, it's frightening. My family was very supportive. My wife was heartbroken but she pushed me to do something. " I don't feel sorry for you, do something ". So I learned how to speak with my stomach muscles and I started working with the American Cancer Society, speaking at meetings.
I worked with a therapist but basically I did it on my own. I practised a lot. At first I would produce only one sound and then I would have to pause. You start with little words, one syllable. You have to relearn everything. Your tongue and your stomach muscles have to work together : it's hard and it's why many people don't do it. The machine is easier, it takes 20 seconds. The kids like my voice, they think it's strange. In two years I spoke to 12.000 kids.
Q2. Where do you meet them ? what is your relationship with them ?
JM : I meet them in schools, boy-scouts groups, girls clubs, health awareness sessions organized by HMOs. I also meet kids who have been caught smoking and choose to have 4 hours of education session instead of being suspended from school. I meet them for one hour in groups of 6 to 30. I tell them to have a look at my stoma. They take a flashlight to have a good look and they check that I cannot breathe through my mouth. My relationship with them is fantastic. I receive a lot of letters, they tell me about their parents who quit or are now going out to smoke . . . they tell me if they quit. Of course I talk to them according to their age. For the 15/16 years old I ask to see them without the presence of a teacher. I talk to them as I would to my teen agers (I have a 17 years old daughter and a 16 years old son). Sometimes they don't like it. But I tell them as it is.
Q3. How do you make a living ? do you get any financial support to do that ?
JM : I was in the Marine Corps in Vietnam so I have my pension and the social security since I have retired. It is a full time job for me now. I go out instead of staying at home. I don't take any money for my speeches. I do it because I care, I do it because it is what I want to do. I don't want them to make the same mistake.
Q4. Do you feel like a "tobacco victim " ?
JM: I am not the victim ! The person who is still smoking is the victim! Before I was like them. I did not believe it could happen to me. The industry does not warn you about the risks. When you start smoking it is not an informed choice. I blame them for that.
Q5. North Carolina is a tobacco growing state. How does it feel ?
JM: I don't blame the farmers. The industry takes their crop and they alter it. I understand it's difficult for the farmers to change when they have been doing it for so many years. The media have been quite open to cover my activities : newspapers, TV stations, radios . . . I also testified in front of the State House and lobbied about the use of the settlement money. A Health Trust has been set up to manage a $ 1.5 million budget for education.
Q6. Is there anything else you would like to add ?
JM: As a former military personel I can travel to many places at no cost, so if people invited me, I would go. I don't charge any fee. Children have a bad habit of telling the truth and they can ask extemely poignant questions, their feedback has been fantastic.
PB: Thank you Jim for taking the time to be with us today. You can find more information about Jim's activities via SAVE, Survivors Empowerment Program, that runs www.tobaccosurvivors.org and 888-8-VOICES.
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