Awards

 

 

laryngectomee of the year

 

Casey Cooper Award Winners

The following are the award winners from each year since this honor was first bestowed in 2001. We are very proud of these laryngectomees and what they have done to make life better for all of us.

 

2007 award winner

 

Frank Batten of Norfolk, Virginia became a laryngectomee in 1979 when
he was CEO of Landmark Communications, an extensive multimedia empire
with close to five thousand employees. He developed esophageal speech
of such quality and intelligibility that Eric Blom, Ph.D. told him
that a tracheoesophageal puncture and voice prosthesis wouldn't offer
enough voice improvement to warrant the surgery. This was in 1981
when he and Dr. Blom met at a Mayo Clinic Seminar. Mr. Batten was
persistent and called Head and Neck Surgery Associates in
Indianapolis, Indiana and told Dr. Blom that he wanted to have the
procedure because he felt his voice with a prosthesis would be more
routinely reliable with greater volume in the many business meetings
that were part of his life. He went to Indianapolis a short time
later where Dr. Mark Singer performed the surgery, and he was fit for
a prosthesis by Dr. Blom. He has routinely used a prosthesis since
that time.

In 1998 Mr. Batten received a Harvard Business School Achievement
Award, and the following quote is from the Harvard Business School
Bulletin. "Frank Batten has delivered hundreds of speeches on the
media, philanthropy and education. The fact that most of these talks
were given after the removal of his larynx is a testament to his
courage and perseverance. Batten an entrepreneur who thrives on
difficult challenges, says that coping with cancer was on of the
biggest hurdles he has ever faced." No one could be a greater role
model for new laryngectomees who are wondering how they will face
life and career post surgery.

Mr. Batten is a member of the Tidewater Lost Cord Club in Norfolk,
Virginia where he became acquainted with the work of the
International Association of Laryngectomees and the role its Voice
Institute could play in the lives of recent laryngectomees. A large
donation to the IAL established the Batten Fund which provides
stipends to laryngectomees to attend a Voice Institute. Through the
years many persons who would otherwise not have had the opportunity
were able to improve their individual methods of speech and move
closer to total rehabilitation.

Mr. Batten was a keynote speaker at two Annual Meetings of the IAL.
When the IAL became independent of the American Cancer Society and
its financial support Mr. Batten provided financial support to
continue the publication of the newsletter. More recently, he donated
generously again to support the production of the newsletter.

Although the International Association of Laryngectomees has been
the recipient of Frank Batten's financial support, we must also
recognize the broad effect these funds have had on many
laryngectomees throughout the world. I believe that an organization
devoted to assisting new laryngectomees, such as WebWhispers, should
recognize not only the monetary contributions of Mr. Batten but also
the kind of role model he has been.

Many of his philanthropic endeavors have been in the educational field and we applaud him for those choices.

The online Wikipedia comments: Frank Batten attended the Culver Military Academy as a young man. He later received his undergraduate degree from the University of Virginia in Charlottesville, Virginia, and his MBA from Harvard in 1952. With a strong commitment to education, Batten became the first Rector of Old Dominion University in Norfolk, Virginia. He has also served on the boards of the College of William and Mary and Hollins College, and was Vice Chairmain of Virginia's State Council of Higher Education.

We are pleased to be able to honor him in our small way.

 

 

2006 award winner

 

The winner of the sixth annual Casey-Cooper Laryngectomee of the Year Award for 2006 was our current VP-Finance and Administration, Terry G. Duga, from Indianapolis, Indiana.

Terry was one of the original founders of WebWhispers attending an informal meeting held at the IAL convention in Indianapolis, IN in 1998 and, in fact, was one of the first 50 members.  Since the early days Terry has been our Vice-President of Finance and Administration and as a lawyer, his knowledge, skills and research capabilities have been invaluable in WebWhispers' rapid growth.  He has been responsible, not only for the accounts, but for the major plans to make WebWhispers an official 501 3. (c) charitable organization thereby allowing contributions to be tax deductible. In addition he has set up our accounts and credit card services, plus files our tax returns and all other required official documents to permit us to conform with all laws.

Terry has served as a volunteer with Dr. Eric Bloom at his clinic and regularly serves as a delegate to the IAL Annual Delegates Meeting.  He has been employed as an attorney for the State of Indiana and was recently appointed by the Governor as Commissioner of the Indiana Board of Tax Review.


Terry is an extraordinary individual who is honest to a fault.  As a founding member of WebWhispers we would not have had the success that we have today without his extraordinary dedication and expertise.

 

2005 award winner

 

The winner of the fifth annual Casey-Cooper Laryngectomee of the Year Award for 2005 was our multi-talented member, Leonard Librizzi of Smithtown, NY.

Len became a lary in 1990 and since that time he has devoted himself to aiding and assisting his fellow "hole in the neck folks".   He is the past president of the Anamilio Speech Club of Nassau County and has been editor of that club's newsletter since 1993.  Len is a volunteer with the American Cancer Society, Eastern Division, as a Cansurmount volunteer visitor, a Camp Adventure volunteer visitor, a Camp Adventure volunteer and Relay for Life.

Len holds an undergraduate degree from City College in Electrical Engineering and Masters degrees in both Computer Science and Management from Polytechnic Institute of New York.

It is certainly fortunate for WebWhispers and the IAL that he has acquired all this knowledge as he has been instrumental in producing fantastic brochures for both organizations and, of course, he is currently both the IAL Treasurer and Editor of the IAL News.

Len is a man of honesty and integrity and through all his volunteer activities in the rehabilitation of laryngectomees he richly deserves this Honor as Laryngectomee of the Year.

 

2004 award winner


The winner of the fourth Casey-Cooper WebWhispers Laryngectomee of the Year Award was Herb Simon, from Silver Spring, Maryland.

Herb Simon is a Lary of the class of 1995 and since his discharge from hospital he has donated an inordinate amount of time to take care of and assist his fellow laryngectomees.  Herb is an individual that believes that action speaks louder than words and that is why perhaps his name is not prominently known outside of WebWhispers, the IAL and Metropolitan DC (MD and VA).  However,  Herb has financially assisted laryngectomees in the U.S. and the Philippines.  

Herb is perhaps best known for his pre and post-op visits to patients which he has been doing since 1995.  He is extremely active with veterans at the Walter Reed Army Medical Center.  He is also prominent in anti-tobacco campaigns and speaks frequently and eloquently to many school children regarding this critical issue.  

As the President of the Laryngectomee Club of Montgomery County (LCMC) from 1998 to 2000 he was instrumental in increasing the membership considerably by virtue of his tenacity and caring manner.

In addition to all his work with laryngectomees, Herb was treasurer of the LCMC for seven years and produces the Clubs' newsletter.  Herb is also an active participant of WebWhispers and the IAL.  Herb Simon is a kind and gentle man who epitomizes all that is required to be named WebWhispers Laryngectomee of the Year 2004 and be awarded the Casey-Cooper trophy.

 

2003 award winner

 

The winner of the third Casey-Cooper WebWhispers Laryngectomee of the Year Award was our long valued member, Mary Jane Renner, from Indianapolis, Indiana.

Mary Jane's numerous outstanding contributions toward the rehabilitation of laryngectomees made her another superb choice to receive this prestigious Award.


Mary Jane, a laryngectomee and a Blom-Singer voice prosthesis user since 1980, has for years been active in the IAL, as a supporter, as a Board of Directors member and as an

officer (a Past President).  She has published and lectured extensively here and abroad on laryngectomee rehabilitation and cancer survivorship  and is a key motivating member of the Indianapolis Lost Chord Club, the Leukemia Society of Indianapolis, and the Wellness Center.  She also holds a Masters in Social Work from Tulane University.


Along with now being a valued contributor on WebWhispers, Mary Jane's efforts also focus on her service as the Executive Secretary of the Head and Neck Cancer Rehabilitation Institute in Indianapolis which sponsors the "Information Hotline for Laryngectomees & Head and Neck Cancer Patients".  Additionally, she serves as a counselor for the Head & Neck Surgery Associates, also located in Indianapolis.   This is ONE VERY BUSY LADY!!

 

2002 award winner

 


The winner of the second Casey-Cooper WebWhispers Laryngectomee of the Year Award was our VP for Web Information, Pat Wertz Sanders.  Pat's outstanding service over the years to aid in the rehabilitation of laryngectomees made her another natural choice to receive this prestigious Award.

Pat, a laryngectomee of the class of 1995, was an early member of Dutch's Larynx Cancer Group that grew into the WebWhispers that we all know today.  Her stamina, leadership, and selfless efforts significantly contributed to the club's success.  She accepted the office of Vice President in 2000 when the new President, Murray Allan, asked for her help after the loss of Carter Cooper, one of the previous presidents, for whom this award is named.  She stepped in and set up the WW Dinner, coming up in just a month, and continued that for the next year.  She contributed most of the text for the first WW brochure and some of the design while being responsible for the informational section of the web site and selection of personnel and editing of the group newsletter.

Pat is an active and knowledgeable participant on both ListServs and within the WW Forum.  She originated the WWHealthHelp List and moderates it, while still acting as back up on the WebWhispers List   Her advice and counsel is constantly sought out, lauded and valued by our membership across the board.  Her extensive laryngectomee support activities outside of WebWhispers are also well-known and well-appreciated.  Writing for and editing "Headlines", which became an International newsletter for laryngectomees has earned the respect of many.  She has been chair of her local support group and handled visitations for new larys at UAB/Kirklin Clinic.  It was her idea to set up cruises for a yearly trip for "WebWhispers and Friends" and her talent for "laryngectomee cruise management" will make for many pleasurable hours spent with others of our group.

She has also introduced a number of laryngectomees to being able to swim again and be comfortable in the water by learning to be very careful and knowledgeable in taking care of themselves.

 

2001 award winner

 

The winner of the first WebWhispers Casey-Cooper Laryngectomee of the Year Award was our WebWhispers Founder and Webmaster, David L. "Dutch" Helms.  His outstanding efforts over the years to aid in rehabilitating laryngectomees made him the only choice to receive this first Award.

Dutch Helms, a laryngectomee of the class of 1994, was frustrated that he could not find one definitive site on the Internet that dealt exclusively with laryngeal cancer.  After his surgery, he had a long road to recovery with no help from support groups, books, or other laryngectomees.   He had to teach himself how to use a computer and by 1996, he was able to build a small web site for people who were larynx cancer survivors and, on that site, he put a notice for other larynx cancer patients to get in touch with him so they could communicate through emails and learn from each other.

By December of that year, he had gathered a dozen other "members" and then word started to spread.  From those beginnings, Dutch led us through additions of services, a Hint section for sharing, informational links to other sites as they were developed, and a listserv to facilitate the ever growing club's method of communication.  He learned how to set up and run each of the additions of services and put it all together.  The website became "THE" place on the Internet for rehabilitation information and the only place where conversation with others, who had the same surgery, became possible.  WebWhispers is the site that Dutch built and it eventually became the largest Internet site for laryngectomees in the World.

Dutch is a dedicated, kind and caring gentleman who has given selflessly of himself to continue to operate WebWhispers on practically a 24 hour per day basis.  His efforts through the website have aided and assisted countless numbers of laryngectomees through what is no doubt the most difficult period of their lives.  His work and his creation have provided the knowledge to make the transition easier for all future laryngectomees.  Those of us who were able to find his site no longer had to walk alone and those who came here carried back to their home towns, clubs and professionals new information gained through WebWhispers.  He is more than our Laryngectomee of the Year.  We would not be together here without him.