Access All: Disability News and Mental Health - Sarah lost her voice to MND, 25 years later she’s got it back

Download Sarah lost her voice to MND, 25 years later she’s got it back

When Sarah Ezekiel was 34 and pregnant with her second child she was diagnosed with Motor Neurone Disease (MND). She lost the use of her hands and all “intelligible speech” within months, and her marriage broke down.

Twenty-five years later, a family VHS tape filmed in the 1990s, resurfaced. Amongst the blaring TV and people talking in the background was eight seconds of Sarah chatting - barely audible at best.

Despite the unlikelihood of rescuing anything from it, assistive tech company Smartbox set to work. Simon Poole looped and cleaned the scratchy audio with a variety of tools until the cockney accent and lisp , Sarah used to hate, returned in all their glory. Sarah can now use her own voice with her eye gaze technology.

For her now grown-up children, Aviva and Eric, it was the first time they had ever heard their mother’s voice.


Presenter: Emma Tracey
Sound design: Dave O’Neill
Producers: Emily Selvadurai and Beth Rose
Editor: Damon Rose

Published on Wednesday, 20th August 2025.

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