Imagine being a voice actor and not having the use of your voice following a stroke. Tom Kane, one of the most well-known voice actors within the past couple of decades, has unfortunately lost much of his ability to speak and even communicate following a left-side stroke that left him incapable of speaking for the most part, but as it’s already been stated he’s stubborn enough that he’s not allowing this to keep him down. This kind of setback would be disastrous to many people since when the one tool that manages to get you paid breaks down it’s hard to think on the fly of what could possibly be done to keep a person going since Kane is primarily a voice actor and as a result, this means that a stroke such as this is bound to keep him sidelined for a while until he can hopefully get back to where he can work again. After hearing how he’s doing it does feel as though he might be able to make his way back at some point, but it’s going to be a struggle for a while until he can make a decent recovery. Hearing about something like this is bound to make a lot of people think about what it might be like to lose the one thing that helps them in their professional life the most. In fact, it’s kind of like a writer being unable to use their hands, since unless you can operate a keyboard with your toes it’s likely that you’ll be feeling kind of lost. Now magnify that by imagining what it’s like for a voice actor to not be able to use their voice.
Kane’s credits go back for a way since he started out in the early 90s and has been doing his thing ever since. Voice actors are often those that don’t get a whole lot of credit unless they’ve become known in some other way, or if they’re already established as live-action celebrities. But the truth is that if one were to go and find the most popular voice actors and alert people to everything they’ve done, people would no doubt be amazed to realize just who’s been voicing so many of their favorite characters. The number of projects that voice actors take on can easily eclipse the number of live-action roles that many actors take on since they tend to do more per year and as you can probably guess they don’t get paid quite as much. Don’t get me wrong, they make a good deal of money depending on their skill, their experience, and of course, the job that they’re being used for, as Kane has been used for some very high-end and recurring roles that have made him a good deal of money over the years. But in comparison to many actors they don’t make quite as much but still make a good living.
The fact that this can all be taken away in a matter of moments is kind of harrowing to think about since no one is immune to what life has to throw at them in any form, but Kane’s family is optimistic that he’ll be able to soldier through this and perhaps make a very impressive recovery. It’s hard to tell if he’ll be able to go back to work eventually since he’s having to go through therapy to learn how to use his voice again. It’s disturbing to think that humans are fragile enough that if something mucks around with our brain that everything we know can be turned upside down as we’re subjected to something that we don’t know how to fight or how to predict. That sounds a bit depressing but it’s the truth since there is no real way to predict what’s going to happen from day to day, as people tend to live as best they can and enjoy what they have while they have it. That’s about all that any of us do really, and it would appear that Tom is bound to stay in good spirits as much as he can since he’s not giving up, which is a testament to how much he loves what he does.
I’ve said it a few times now and I’ll likely say it more and more as the years go by, but the love and dedication that a person has for their work is what keeps a lot of people going, and what keeps that level of determination alive no matter what happens. There are people that might give up and throw in the towel so to speak whenever something bad happens, but those that love what they do and feel strongly about it are going to do whatever it takes to keep going, and for that, it’s easy to be inspired by those that don’t just lay down. Here’s wishing Tom well on the road to recovery.
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