It's a Miracle I Can Talk!
21 May 2026 · 1 min
1:12
A person failed a phrenic nerve test that should have prevented them from talking, yet they speak and think normally. Multiple doctors called it a miracle. They chose to see it that way too.
A person failed a phrenic nerve test that should have prevented them from talking, yet they speak and think normally. Multiple doctors called it a miracle. They chose to see it that way too.
Every doctor who has commented on my condition, not, not one of whom was particularly religious, described my ability to speak as miraculous. They all use the word miracle or miraculous because I didn't even register on the test of the phrenic nerve, the nerve that goes from the brain to the diaphragm and enables people to talk, among other things. I didn't register. And here I am having an interview with you. And, and that I've had no cognitive consequence is, is also part of the miracle. So I tend to focus on the miraculous, not on the loss.
Life, Legacy, and a Dangerous Mission in the Soviet Union | Sunday Fireside Chat
