Patient Stories: After treatment for advanced laryngeal cancer, Jimmy Walker has plenty to say

Jimmy Walker was never a smoker, but after suffering pain in his throat and a hoarseness to his voice that couldn’t be explained, he became concerned. Those initial early symptoms turned into a persistent earache and the continued loss of his voice.

He asked a doctor for help. Walker was diagnosed with advanced laryngeal cancer, known as cancer of the voice box.

Walker met with Prisma Health radiation oncologist Dr. John O’Connell and eventually underwent total laryngectomy surgery and the implanting of a voice prosthesis to speak.

“What saved my life was that they kept my wife involved, answering her questions and giving her information,” said Walker. “We were hand-in-hand through the entire process. We were a part of the team.”