In 1997, several friends called him after watching a television news show that featured a young accident victim who regained her speech through surgery. They mistakenly thought the young woman had received a larynx transplant. Heidler, in turn, asked a good friend, who was a nurse, to ask about that possibility. The nurse made contacts with physicians, who said while there had been no successful larynx transplant, Strome, at the Cleveland Clinic, was researching the possibility. Soon after, Heidler called Strome, who invited him to come to Cleveland for an evaluation.
Transplant surgery is always risky, and the track record for larynx transplants was abysmal.
For years, Strome had wanted to try to restore a person's lost voice. His quest began when he was a medical resident specializing in ear, nose and throat disorders. The first time he had to remove a larynx, he wasn't prepared for the patient's depression that followed. Larynx removal usually is necessary because of cancer. There are about 10,000 new cancer cases a year.