NEWBURYPORT, MASS. (WHDH) – A Haverhill man returned home Thursday after he received a first-of-its-kind larynx transplant in Arizona.
Marty Kedian battled cancer for decades and was unable to speak, swallow or breathe on his own before the surgery.
Just over five months after he underwent the procedure in late February, Kedian was greeted with cheers as he came back to Massachusetts.
“It’s been unbelievable how long it took,” he told people who gathered to greet him at an event in Newburyport. “I’ve been gone a year and a half. I haven’t seen a lot of you.”
Kedian said he had no voice for roughly six months before the surgery.
His wife, Gina Defeudis, said she watched her husband “suffer in silence” as he was unable to do many things he wanted to do.
Kedian eventually joined a trial at the Mayo Clinic in Arizona and became the first person with cancer to receive a larynx transplant. He was just the third person in the US to receive the procedure and the first Mayo Clinic patient to do so, according to the Mayo Clinic.
Kedian had to stay in Arizona while he was recovering and was separated from his family for six months.
Now several months into his recovery, doctors said Kedian is recovering quickly and he is exceeding expectations.
As of Tuesday, doctors said Kedian’s voice was functioning at 60%. He could eat normally and was on his way to breathing on his own.
Kedian said it means the world to have his voice back. But he said it was even more special to share Thursday’s reunion with his family.
“My first priority is to spend some time with my family and friends, my granddaughter especially,” he said.
Moving forward, Kedian said he hopes the surgery he received will one day be more accessible for anyone who needs it.
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