Michelle Foreman (MF): How do you feel when people turn around and look at you?

René Foreman (RF): It aggravates me. I was in the gym the other day and I was talking to somebody. And there was a woman, and she turned around and she said at the top of her voice, "What's that funny sound?" And I turned around, with my hands on my hips. I said, "That's me." And she wanted to shrink into the ground. I felt so good.

MF: That's one thing that I love about you. You do still stick up for yourself.

RF: I am not a shrinking violet but you know, there's some good sides. When people phone me to solicit and I say, "hello?" they think I'm playing a joke on them and there's this long silence.

MF: You told me that when you answered they said, "Is this a computer that I'm speaking to?" And you said, "Yes."

RF: People are really very kind once they realize what the situation is. I may go into a restaurant once, and if I go back there a year later, and it's the same woman at the front desk, she'll say, "Where have you been? We haven't seen you for a while." So I feel like a movie star.

I remember the night before my operation. I was scared. I asked you to stay and you slept in the bed with me in the hospital. And then you left New York to come and be with me for a year. How did you feel about leaving your job and your friends and your life?

MF: I--I didn't even think twice about it.

RF: I'm really very blessed in my life. I am happier now without my voice than I've ever been with my voice. It's a small price to pay for being alive and enjoying life, so I am very happy where I am now.