Help Chris Bandy Receive Treatment for Chronic Vocal Pain

Hi everyone,

My name is Chris Bandy. I recently completed a PhD in Music Theory and Composition, and I have been applying for teaching jobs for this fall. I've also posted music videos on my YouTube channel (Chris Bandy) for ten years.

As a few of my friends know, I’ve had chronic vocal pain (primary odynophonia with minor dysphonia) for almost four years. Almost every day since it started, it has been painful to talk or sing for more than a few minutes. When it started, I immediately saw a voice doctor in Dallas and did twelve weeks of vocal therapy in 2022, but it helped only minimally. Since then, I’ve just been gutting it out for the last few years. But about a month ago, the pain suddenly got much worse. Now I am in near-constant pain every day. Speaking just a few words causes pain unless I haven’t spoken for the whole day or I’m on a heavy dose of Tylenol. A one- or two-hour conversation leaves my throat burning well into the next day. I’ve had my vocal cords examined a few times and they always look fine, and my voice usually sounds OK, although after an hour of talking it starts to sound worse. I also took an acid reflux test which came back negative. The culprit may be muscle tension in the neck. I’ve done about 2 hours per day of stretches and massages over the past two weeks, and while some of my neck has definitely loosened up, the pain has not gotten any better.

It has reached the point where my teaching career is in jeopardy and my relationships are increasingly affected. I’ve started to cancel teaching opportunities and hangouts because of the pain. As some of you know, my piano career ended in 2020 after two years of battling tendonitis and eventually losing, so I cannot support myself by playing. And back in July, I signed up for health insurance through the Obamacare website and got scammed out of $5600 (was $4600 but the insurance company did an unauthorized $1000 charge on my debit card, prompting me to cancel my card)—all while not being covered and so having to pay $160-$320 every time I saw a doctor or physical therapist. I disputed $2000 of charges at the bank and initially received a provisional credit, but just today learned that the bank was unable to recoup the money from the insurance company and thus will be taking the $2000 back out of my bank account, which currently has less than $2000 in it.

And so now I have to ask for help. There is apparently only one laryngologist in Alabama, and that’s Blake Simpson at UAB. He is very famous and one of the best. He is not covered by the insurance plan I am currently stuck with. There are some treatment routes—myofascial release, botox on the TMJs or vocal folds, superior laryngeal nerve-blocking, direct pain control—that I have not tried yet. Any amount you can give is so very appreciated. Every dollar I receive will be used to pay off the $2000 bank charge and then to see Dr. Simpson and pursue whatever testing and treatment he prescribes. If I don’t even partially improve by this fall, then even if I do land a full-time teaching job, I would expect to be in significant pain every day and unable to talk hardly outside of teaching.

Obviously, I don’t want to waste people’s money, so if any of you have any advice regarding either the vocal aspect or the health insurance aspect, please feel free to message me. But it seems pretty clear that I need to see Dr. Simpson because nothing else has worked, he’s the closest expert, and I urgently need this to be resolved.

You can either donate directly through the GoFundMe link below, or if you would like to have your name credited on my YouTube channel, you can sign up for a few months on Patreon (patreon.com/chrisbandy). I am still creating videos every day, although they are mostly instrumental now, since videos with vocals take significantly longer to complete because I can only record for less than an hour per day, and only after a day or two of near-complete vocal rest. Thank you so much everyone.