The world's first successful larynx transplant recipient celebrates the 4th anniversary of his surgery "doing better than ever," according to his surgeon, Dr. Marshall Strome of the Cleveland Clinic.

Timothy Heidler of Pickering, Ohio, had been voiceless for 20 years following a motorcycle accident before receiving a new larynx, part of a trachea and 80 percent of a throat in a 12-hour operation on Jan. 4, 1998.

"I'm doing good," Heidler told the Akron Beacon-Journal in a phone interview. "I think it's where (my voice) is going to be. I can control the pitch and volume."

"His voice is spectacular," said Strome. In conversation, it is difficult to tell that Heidler's voice is anything but the original.

In the past year, Heidler's dosage of his immunosuppressant, FK506, has been cut in half, and Strome said he ultimately hopes to also wean Heidler from steroids.