John Michael Higgins
Vocal Sport: Acting, Singing, Voiceover
It’s hard to know where to begin praising Dr. Reena Gupta and happily I’m in no danger of overstating the case. The headline is that this was the best medical experience I’ve ever had, from the initial consultation and intake to the completely successful surgery, and right through to the completely productive post-op, follow-up, and therapy. Dr. Gupta is a very rare example of a doctor who is firing on all the cylinders all the time. The startling breadth of the anatomical knowledge, the incredible skill and talent of the surgery, and the thoughtfulness — the actual processing of the actual questions that I was actually asking. She has no rote answers, no rote phrases —for Dr. Gupta, every case is perfectly individual and every case requires a perfectly individual approach.
One of the most difficult things about being a performer is explaining yourself to a medical professional. I never had to explain to Dr. Gupta a thing — what an actor is, what his voice goes through, how I feel about it, why I’m scared, what I fear will be lost, what my voice means to me, that I have a relationship with my body that might be different from a civilian’s. Dr. Gupta was ahead of me on all of it. Perhaps her empathy is the greatest of her talents: my guess is the medicine was the one that followed its lead.
As I write this my very serious vocal issue, the issue that could have ended my career, is completely cured. I’m done; the whole thing is over. I never, in my wildest hopes, dared dream for this result. This medical experience exceeded my wildest expectations. It is not at all an exaggeration to say:
I still have my career because of the incredible medical care that Dr. Reena Gupta provided me.”
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We ask vocal athletes to share their story to empower people like you to seek vocal care and to remove the stigma of vocal issues and injury. All words are their own and we have been given permission to include their words, names and photos when included. We thank our artists for the gift of their experience and their willingness to courageously share their story with us.
