Bob Herbst
My name is Bob Herbst, I was born in Schenectady New York on May 1st 1950. My family moved to Cheshire Ct in 1957. I am the eldest of seven children. I started smoking before my teens, stealing cigarettes from my parents and smoking with friends. I went through the Cheshire school system and College in Waterbury Ct. The entire time growing up I increased my cigarette intake until I was smoking at least three packs a day. I have a son, Adam born in 1977 and am married to my wife Lesley. I entered the manufacturing world at an early age. My father was an electrical engineer, and he recruited my brother and I to work with him for an International Steel Mill manufacturer. We worked together at that facility for several years. In 1973 we started our own company I2S or Intergrated Industrial Systems, upgrading and fixing steel mill equipment, that no one else could or wanted to do. There were only four of us in the company (mother ,father myself and younger brother.) We worked long hard and often dirty hours, through Holiday’s, birthday’s anniversary’s etc. for at least a decade. While the company was growing I continued to chain smoke and drink, when it was "Miller time". We went from four people to over 200 in 35 years. I was manager of manufacturing for a dozen years and then spent the last 22 years as Vice President of Operations. By the late 1990’s my voice was hardly a whisper. As many of us I was misdiagnosed and spent 6 months being treated for GERD. My wife a nurse in New Haven Ct. referred me to her sister, also a nurse at Mass General. I received an appointment with the chief of Head and neck surgery at Mass Eye and Ear. He scoped me and the monitor clearly showed T4 squamous cell carcinoma. I had a total Laryngectomy on March 20 th 1998 with a right side radical neck dissection. In 3 to 4 days I was proficient with a Servox , using the inter oral device. I then under took 7 weeks of Radiation in Boston, commuting every day from Ct. or Cape Cod. After hearing a tape by Edmund Lauder speaking Esophagealy ,I was shocked and impressed enough to start speaking his way. I started off with the words Scotch and Cupcake and voila I was off and running. I got some tutoring from a wonderful woman and SLP. Karen Urioste. Then I was informed that our local University SCSU, had a department of communication disorders. I attended several semesters of perfecting esophageal speech , working with student SLP’S,. they helped me and I helped them. For my 50 th Birthday my wife came up with the idea of starting the Robert and Lesley Lee Herbst Endowed Scholarship for young SLP’s. We have since given out 6 scholarships to Post Grad SLP’s who maintained a high GPA and needed the funding to finish their SLP majors. I have spoken to many thousand students about the dangers of smoking. I am a certified contractor in the State of Florida. I was asked to be in a film with Kim Winter of the American Lung Association and a young man from Fargo ND who contracted Buergers Disease from smoking. The Film No Ifs ands or Butts has been seen in thousands of American School systems in the last 5 or 6 years. I have done hundreds of Pre and Post hospital visits. And I was honored to be chosen to carry the Torch for the Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City. I am the President of the Lost Cord Club of Greater New Haven, and a member of 3 other clubs in Mass and Florida.