Without A Voice

Jamie Dupree is the radio man without a voice. In March , Dupree was taking a well-deserved break from the grind of covering the presidential campaign. In London on vacation with his wife and three children, he was struck down by a stomach bug. Jamie Dupree in his office on Capitol Hill.

His health didn't improve when he got home. Constant diarrhea, a racing pulse and general malaise plagued him. Doctors couldn't pinpoint the cause; that would soon become a common refrain. The oddest symptom was his voice. It had suddenly become breathy, squeaky, unreliable. Over the next few months, his speech got worse.

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When Dupree opened his mouth to talk, his tongue would thrust out against his will. The more he tried to talk, the more it protruded, making it impossible to express himself.

Helping Those Without a Voice

Trying to whisper produced the same effect, but it didn't affect his ability to eat or drink. It was like his tongue had a mind of its own. A merry-go-round of doctors finally found relief for his stomach and heart issues but the most precious thing -- his voice -- continued to elude them. As did the cause of all his symptoms. Why was my food moving so fast? Something in my body was not working right.

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But no one could tell me why. The Mayo Clinic rejected his appointment application. A week after the Trump inauguration, a doctor at another prominent hospital injected botulinum toxin into Dupree's vocal cords, hoping to relax his voice. A visit to the Cleveland Clinic put a name to his condition: It's part of a group of movement disorders characterized by involuntary muscle contractions that cause strange, repetitive motions and postures.

The most common form, cervical dystonia, affects the neck, causing wobbling or worse, the inability to hold the head upright. Blepharospasm , another kind , is a forced squeezing shut of the eyelids that reduces or blocks vision. Still other dystonias can focus on the legs, hands and feet, even the entire body. Nearly , Americans have some type of dystonia, according to the American Association of Neurological Surgeons, making it the third most common movement disorder.

Only essential tremor and Parkinson's disease affect more people. They build a relationship with the child, collect information about the child from doctors, teachers, daycares, therapists, foster parents, natural parents and extended family and the advocate reports the information to the judge. They are the eyes and ears of the court in the community for that child, and the voice of that child in court. The age range of children currently served by Capital City CASA is newborn to eighteen years old, though we can serve a child until they turn Volunteers work with a team consisting of a Juvenile Officer, caseworker and Guardian ad Litem to address the needs of the child.

Capital City CASA works with other United Way agencies to ensure that a child has access to summer camps, tutoring, mentoring and other opportunities. For many children, their CASA becomes the one consistent person in their life when so much else changes. At fifteen, his CASA was the only father figure he had known. Often when children are removed from their home, they are able to bring very little with them--at most, what will fit in a school backpack.

Michelle Nicholson | Without a Voice

A child will move five to seven times during the entirety of their case, and too many times each move is made in a large, black trash bag. We dispose of these bags. But when a sudden unanticipated throat injury forces her into months of silence, her life is thrown into disarray. Unable to work her customer service job, she must find new income. Conversing with friends becomes complicated and exhausting.

And she is forced to give up a hobby she loves — singing! Webber adroitly uses the comics medium to convey the practical hurdles she faced as well as the fear and dread that accompanied her increasingly lonely journey to regain her life.

Her raw cartooning style, occasionally devolving into chaotic scribbles, splotches of ink, and overlapping montages, perfectly captures her frustration and anxiety. But her ordeal ultimately becomes a hopeful story.