Film critic Roger Ebert has lost his ability to speak, but still communicates

AP ^ | February 16, 2010

[ConservativeStatement]

NEW YORK (AP) — Film critic Roger Ebert lost his ability to speak nearly four years ago, when he underwent a tracheostomy, a procedure that opens an airway through an incision in the windpipe, after surgery for cancer in his jaw.

In an interview in the new issue of Esquire magazine, the 67-year-old film critic for the Chicago Sun-Times uses pen and paper and text-to-speech computer software to communicate. He's developed a kind of rudimentary sign language, and he sometimes draws letters with his finger on the palm of his hand.

[WOBBLY BOB]

yikes, reconstructive technology has room for improvement.
thanks.

[maggief]

He can still type.

[Gay State Conservative]

Yup,that's a real picture.I know because I've seen many,many like him while working at a large hospital for 20+ years.Smokers,those who chew tobacco and alcoholics are at great risk for head & neck cancers.

[Palladin]

Omigosh, the poor man. He’s brave to keep on keepin’ on.

I never disliked him—just thought he had poor taste in movies.

[DJ MacWoW]

If the bone cancer was bad enough they probably couldn’t do any reconstructive surgery. That pic looks like a lot of bone was removed. Horrible but he is alive.

[WOBBLY BOB]

Better no jaw than dead. Glad I quit chewing...now if I could quit my other vices...

[max americana]

Roger Ebert Twitters: ‘Massachusetts to Teddy: “F—k you.”’

(right after Scott Brown’s win)

[woofie]

[reagan_fanatic]

My Mom has chewed snuff (she’s an old-fashioned Southern woman) for as long as I can remember (I’m 48 now.) I keep hoping and praying she doesn’t get something like that.

She’s 70 now. So far, nothing....

[mountaineer1997]

Suggest that FReepers be respectful of people experiencing facial surgeries, whatever the cause.

[oh8eleven]

Yeah and thousands of American vets who got their faces blown away over the last 200+ years.

[Vision]

It's amazing with all this he's as bitter and partisan as he is.

[Sarah Barracuda]

Nope, he still has the ability to be a jackass

[DJ MacWoW]

Suggest that FReepers be respectful of people experiencing facial surgeries, whatever the cause.

And just where was I disrespectful?

[TChad]

I wouldn’t wish than on anyone. Not even Roger Ebert.

[savagesusie]

I was afraid it was real, but you would think they could do some reconstruction some way with all the plastic surgery experience out there. He would certainly have the money. Sad.

[Atlas Sneezed]

I agree. Why not implant a plastic jaw bone? It might not function much, but it would restore some structure. Reconstructive surgery has done far more with far less.

[TET1968]

I think it's ironic that a man who spent his adult life critiquing the efforts of others is now speechless.

I'm thinking "Greek Tragedy."

[muleskinner]

I was reminded of Civil War soldiers with severe facial wounds...like some Barnum & Baily grotesque. I can’t believe modern plastic surgery can’t improve his condition.

[Osage Orange]

Just because you've had a tracheostomy.....doesn't mean you've lost the ability to speak.

Just another poor example of the investigating abilities of the media.....