I lost my voice, but help others find theirs

Author: Alex Hubbard for The New York Times

Published On: 06/19/2017

I can tell you the exact moment I realized my voice was broken.

I was sitting in a cubicle inside Pulitzer Hall, the home of the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism. I was on the phone with a former top official at U.S.A. Hockey — a man whose name I knew well from having grown up a hockey fan. He was supposed to give me an interview for my master’s project, a large journalism assignment that most other graduate students would compare to a thesis. I was excited for the help and also excited to speak to someone so well known to me. Then he said it.

“I’m sorry. I want to help you, but I can’t understand you.”

His words did not shock me; I had known for a long time that my voice was failing me. But what he said, with unintended cruel clarity, signaled to me that the moment had come. Later that day I — a 23-year-old Tennessee boy making good in New York City — called my mother and cried.

For the rest of the story about Alex Hubbard, who was diagnosed with NF2 as a senior in high school, click here.