Ann Allred
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Ed Gold

Dear Dr. Cooper:

I have just celebrated my 85th birthday and as I sat around discussing the past with some of my friends, I was astounded at the number of people that have had a profound affect on my life, both good and bad. You, sir are one of the good ones. In all of the intervening years, I have never spoken to you, and thanked you enough for what you have done for me.

Let me recall my history with you. After visiting three eye, ear, and nose specialists, they all agreed on two things, that I have a contact ulcer of the vocal cords and that surgery was the only way out. No guarantee that it wouldn't return, but that was the way to go.

Then my doctor came up with another specialist, a Dr. Rubin in Beverly Hills. I went to see him, in desperation. He confirmed the diagnosis of the other specialists and said the surgery is the only solution the medical profession has for cases like mine; however, I can recommend a speech therapist that has had a measure of success treating contact ulcers of the vocal cords, without surgery. He recommended you, Dr. Cooper. Dr. Rubin said, I know the pain you are having, so when you leave my office, I don't want you to talk, unless it is an emergency, and when you do talk, I want you to whisper.

Knowing I did not want surgery on my throat, I contacted you. When I entered your office, you asked, "Why are you whispering." I told you what Dr. Rubin said. You replied, "I don’t want you to whisper and I want you to talk, but talk correctly." I became confused. All my life medical doctors were put on the highest rung of the pedestal of knowledge, no questions asked, and here you are, contradicting a medical doctor on medical questions!!

Whom do I believe? Well, my reasoning went, "do you want surgery?" No! Do you want your 24 an hour severe pain to continue? No! Would Dr. Rubin, a medical doctor recommend this joker, if he didn’t have some faith in his ability? No! Can you afford his fees? Yes. So if you dont do what he says, what is your next step? I continued my visits.

When I asked Dr. Cooper, how long will it take for me to see some improvement? That depends on the patient, I have cleared some of the cases like yours, in a couple of weeks, others take longer, depending on how quickly the patient puts my instructions to use. Fine, let's get on with it.

You told me to raise the tone an octave higher, that my voice is coming form the bottom of my throat and I must get it higher. I complained ? that I am trying to do what you want and you are still repeating - higher - higher - higher. I told you, I don't understand what you mean by 'higher' - 'higher' - 'higher'. I told you, I don't understand what you mean by 'higher' - 'higher'. That I can't hear the tone, higher or lower. I kept practicing the exercises while driving in the car, all to no avail.

About a month later, I'm sitting in my office at Sinclair Paint Co., in pain unable to speak freely, due to go back east for a family visit. I couldn't imagine myself being silent in my family gatherings without someone not saying to me, "What is the matter with you. You are so quiet. Are you sick?" The chemist walks by, looks in and says, "What is the matter with you." I had told no one at Sinclair of my problem, but I told Al. He told me that he has a friend that is or was a speech therapist, why don’t you check him out. Good idea. I set up an appointment with this therapist and as soon as I came in he told me he used to be a speech therapist, but is now a psychologist and that perhaps by ailment is psychosomatic. Suffice to say I beat a hasty retreat to you.

So, doctor, if wasn't that if I followed your instructions to the letter that I could have been out of treatment within a month, but rather, if I had the Cooper knowledge of voice sound, then the cure would follow, I didn't. So I suffered longer. The truth is that the ulcer has disappeared, it was never operated upon, the constant pain was gone and the symptoms have never appeared again. In fact I now am more aware of people's voices and can in most instances point out people who could use your services.

To put this whole matter into a time frame. I saw you as a patient in 1971 or 1972, I was 58 or 59 years old, and I was vice president of Sinclair Paint. I have had no relapses of this illness since the last visit.

Thank you Dr. Cooper, you are one of the few in the medical profession that knows what he's talking about, in spite of your obstinacy!

Sincerely,

Ed Gold