Health Watch: Voice Box Transplant

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- A California woman who couldn't speak for more than a decade has her voice back. She's only the second person in the world to get a voice box transplant.

You can hear Brenda Charett Jensen in video from UC Davis Medical Center. For 11 years, her voice was a harsh, robotic sound that kids would make fun of and adults wouldn't trust.

"A lot of people would hang up on me because they would think I'm a telemarketer or some kind of soliciting machine," she said.

Brenda's vocal chords and airway were damaged by a ventilation tube in 1998. For more than a decade, she couldn't speak on her own, eat, taste or smell. But thanks to a team from UC Davis, Brenda has now become only the second recipient of a voice box transplant.

Watch the video...

In October, surgeons replaced her voice box with a donor's, attaching the incredibly complex muscles and nerves that protect the airway while allowing her to breathe.
Dr. Martin Birchall, one of the surgeons and a scientific advisor on the transplant team, said, "This is about the most complex transplant you could possibly wish to perform with the exception of the brain, possibly."

Eleven days later, while hospital staff rolled home video, Brenda spoke her first real words in years. She inhaled and said, "Good morning." She sounded hoarse, but it was her voice.

"I'm still working hard, but I'm improving every day," she said during a Thursday news conference in Sacramento.

Brenda Jensen still has a breathing tube in her neck, which doctors hope to remove once she re-learns how to swallow.

"Just to be able to speak again and to smell food, which I'm not able to eat yet but I can't wait to dig in, it's just been amazing," she said.

The transplant team said, most people with voice box problems won't be candidates. Organ transplants are usually reserved for life-threatening illnesses because of the risks of anti-rejection drugs. But Brenda was already on those drugs because of a previous kidney transplant. Her progress has already taught doctors how to help other people with voice box problems.

Reported By Stephanie Stahl, CBS 3