Dick Vitale, an analyst for more than four decades on ESPN, begins to get his voice back as he recovers from cancer and recent vocal cord surgery.
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At his southern Florida home, Vitale can't shut off his play-calling despite sitting out March Madness. He's in the recovery stages of a seven-month cancer fight, cleared to use his signature voice just a week earlier after a “fricken brutal” several months of resting his vocal cords and communicating only via text or with a dry-erase white board.
"For three months, I felt trapped. I was sobbing when I got my voice back," Vitale tells USA TODAY Sports, his speech less animated and throat still tender from vocal cord surgery. "I love talking with people more than anything in life. And if I can’t communicate, I become so depressed."
"This is for those that are in my club of CANCER PATIENTS fighting the journey to beat this disease," Vitale tweets last week. "Yes the scans, bloodwork,blood counts. chemo treatments, NEUPOGEN shots that cause intense pain wear on us but Remember as my buddy Jimmy V said, 'Don't Give Up – DON'T EVER GIVE UP."
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