Shania Twain Had To Be Awake And Sing While Undergoing Major Surgery Due To Lyme Disease

Award-winning singer and songwriter Shania Twain has openly discussed how she felt after it was revealed that she might never sing again. Twain had open throat surgery to treat Lyme disease, which had severely damaged her voice at the time.

She described the experience as a "depressing and devastating" phase before expressing gratitude for being able to sing and speak again. The singer weathered the storm and recently released a new album, "Queen of Me," which is the first since her surgery, calling it her "celebration album."

Keep on reading to learn more.

The artist opened up about what it was like for her after learning she might never do what she loved doing the most, singing, because of Lyme disease.

The disease is caused by bacteria that are transmitted to humans by infected ticks, with symptoms including fever, headache, fatigue, and a characteristic skin rash.

In a recent chat on "Lorraine" with Lorraine Kelly, the "party for two" singer recounted her fears and what the experience was like.

"It was quite depressing and devastating to imagine that," she stated per Daily Mail. "Even speaking has been difficult with Lyme disease. Now I'm just feeling so grateful that I can sing and express myself."

Twain also discussed how the procedure was carried out, revealing it was done while she was conscious.

"You have to be awake while they do it. I was more afraid of never singing again than getting through the operation," she said. "The reason you have to be awake for the operation is that you have to sing during it so they know exactly what to do."

Elsewhere in her chat with Lorraine, the Grammy award-winning singer spoke about her new album "Queen of Me" and what it represents, calling it "free-spirited."

Twain, while reckoning with Lorraine's thoughts of the album representing her victory over the challenges she's faced, pointed out that just being comfortable in her skin will do, explaining that it took a long time to get here and that she wished "she'd have gotten there sooner."

The singer explained that "Queen of Me" is her first album since she went under the needle before declaring that it was her "celebration album."

"Celebration, music, being happy, putting myself in a great spirit, and sharing that spirit with everybody," she stated, in reference to what "Queen of Me" represents.

The "You're Still The One" hitmaker revealed that she has implants in her body to water down the effect of the surgery on her voice but admitted she doesn't know how long the procedure will last, per Irish Examiner.

"I have two new body parts," she said. "These implants could shift, they could just not be effective anymore, at some point, if my own anatomy continues to give way. So I'm just making the most of it right now. I just can't wait to get back in the studio and make more records while I still can."

Twain then stated that she could always get another surgery but would rather not. "I may just let go of singing altogether at some point if it comes to that but I have more records that I want to make first. So I want to get to that," she explained.

She had to relearn how to utilize her voice so she could speak and sing once again. "It's been a lot of experimenting. I used the album as that experimenting ground. But it was a lot of fun. It was a lot of really fun discoveries," she said.

The country music legend replaced Sheridan Smith as a judge on ITV's talent show, "Starstruck." Twain, 57, joined other judges like Adam Lambert, Beverley Knight, and Jason Manford on the show, which sees singers try to mimic various music icons.

The show made the news of Twain's recruitment public in a video via their Instagram account, saying, "big news, we're thrilled to announce that @shaniatwain will be joining @adamlambert @beverleyknight @jasonmanford and host @ollymurs for series 2 of 'star struck.'"

"Hi everyone, I'm here in Las Vegas I'm about to get on the stage to do a show, but I wanted to take a quick minute to say that I'm so excited about heading to the UK soon to join the 'Starstruck' panel," Twain added in the video.

Speaking about her appearance on the show with Lorraine, the singer said per Daily Mail, "it's so great the talent I've met on that show, just everyday people that are pouring their hearts out in their performance, it really heart-warming and I love it."