Actor Val Kilmer is learning how to talk again following his vicious throat cancer battle.
The Top Gun star has opened up on about how it feels having to learn to communicate again at 60 years of age after he was diagnosed with the cancer in 2015.
As part of his throat cancer recovery the star underwent a tracheotomy.
According to the NHS’s website, a tracheotomy is “an opening created at the front of the neck so a tube can be inserted into the windpipe ( trachea ) to help you breathe”.
The National Health Service adds: “If necessary, the tube can be connected to an oxygen supply and a breathing machine called a ventilator.”
Vil Kilmer is learning how to talk again following cancer battle (Image: Getty Images)
Speaking about his former on Good Morning America, Val admitted that he was actually doing great after the procedure.
Val, who said he is returning to acting soon, said the tracheotomy made speaking hard but he is able to learn how to speak again.
“I’m doing great, I feel a lot better than I sound,” he told the presenters.
Val added: “It’s just like any other language or dialect.
(Image: Getty Images)
“You have to figure out a way to communicate that’s no different than any other acting challenge but it’s just a very unique set of circumstances.”
Val appeared on the show alongside his daughter Mercedes, 28, who is making her film debut alongside her dad in the film Paydirt.
Mercedes told the hosts: “I’m so proud to have been in this film and to have worked on this film like not just because my dad is my actual dad, but because I know you don’t really lead with this but you do have now a disability with your voice, and it really meant a lot to me to be able to be involved in this film that centers a disabled actor, or an actor with a disability.”
The star underwent two tracheostomies after his glands and tongue swelled, but thankfully he is now cancer free.
Val, who starred in Batman, has to put a finger to his throat in order to be able to talk.
As well as releasing a memoir titled I’m Your Huckleberry, the iconic actor has also returning to his role as Iceman and will star in the much-anticipated TopGun comeback Top Gun: Maverick.
Source: Celebrities - dailystar.co.uk
