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It began as a devastating injury. It became an amazing recovery.
Ryan Shazier’s life forever changed on a Monday night in Cincinnati. The Pittsburgh Steelers linebacker suffered a severe spinal injury as he made a routine tackle, a stunning blow for the NFL star.
Every day UPMC patients like Ryan are living their own comebacks. Follow along as Ryan shares these stories. Stories of people who didn’t take no for an answer, who kept fighting no matter the odds. Listen to the Ryan Shazier 50 Phenoms podcast to join the journey.
Subscribe and listen today:
50 Phenoms podcast on Apple Podcasts
50 Phenoms podcast on iHeartRadio
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string(32560) "A devastating car crash caused by a speeding driver running a red light left Paula Franetti with numerous severe injuries. Multiple surgical procedures and months of recovery time followed. But Paula remained determined to get back to her previously active lifestyle. She reached down deep to overcome every obstacle or setback that came up during her rehab, and she succeeded.
Find out more about Paula’s story in the premiere episode of Ryan Shazier’s 50 Phenoms podcast. Pittsburgh Steelers linebacker Ryan Shazier, who continues his own comeback from a spinal injury, joins Paula for a deeper conversation about their experiences. They discuss the adversity they both experienced, as well as the determination it took to overcome it.
Listen to more episodes of Ryan Shazier's 50 Phenoms Podcast
Read The Full Podcast Transcript
Announcer: Phenomenal courage, phenomenal stories. Next, on Ryan Shazier's 50 Phenoms, turning trauma into triumph.
Paula Franetti: Well, on Sept. 13, 2016, a speeding driver ran through a red light and just brutally T-boned me on my driver's-side door. And the impact was so hard that I literally thought I died.
Paula Franetti: I later learned that I had seven pelvic fractures, five spinal fractures, a ruptured diaphragm.
Announcer: In this premiere episode, Ryan Shazier talks to Paula Franetti, who suffered life-threatening injuries when a driver ran a red light going 50 miles an hour and slammed into the side of her car.
Ryan Shazier: It's amazing to be able to know that you can play basketball again. With so many surgeries and having so many injuries and still being able to overcome it. So just to be able to go through all this is amazing.
Paula Franetti: You have to believe, right?
Announcer: Ryan uncovers the physical and mental challenges Paula faced after the crash and how she got back to living the life she loved.
Ryan Shazier: Yeah, so we're in the basketball gym. Can you please let me know a little bit about why we're in here?
Paula Franetti: Well, this is like my second home. Before my accident, I loved playing basketball and I played for the National Senior Games. I represent Pennsylvania as part of a team and never thought I was going to get to be back on the court again. But here I am, and it feels good. It feels good to be on the court again.
Ryan Shazier: Just hearing from your story, it's amazing to be able to know that you can play basketball again. Me and you both have gone through some traumatic injuries and things that a lot of people haven't had the opportunity to come back from. Can you please let me know a little bit about what happened in September?
Paula Franetti: Well, on Sept. 13, 2016, a speeding driver ran through a red light and just brutally T-boned me on my driver's-side door. And the impact was so hard that I literally thought I died.
Ryan Shazier: Oh, man.
Paula Franetti: I went into this place and I wasn't sure if I was alive or not, but from that accident I later learned that I had seven pelvic fractures, five spinal fractures, a ruptured diaphragm, a punctured bladder, internal bleeding, and a concussion. But it wasn't a bleeding concussion, so luckily that didn't happen.
Ryan Shazier: That's a lot to overcome, just to be able to hear everything you're saying at once. Some people can't get over one, and you're able to get over all this and be able to come back and play for the national team and play basketball, so that's tremendous. I know dealing with a spinal cord injury, there's a lot of adversity, a lot of trials, and a lot of people not rooting against you, but just don't feel that you can make it to where I'm at now. So just to hear all of the things that you've overcome is amazing.
Paula Franetti: And I can relate to what you're saying, Ryan, because there's what you believe and what I believed, where I was going to get to. And people don't know what it's like to be in your own shoes.
Ryan Shazier: No, not at all.
Paula Franetti: And so they could tell you what they think and they're going to believe what they think, but it has to come from within.
Ryan Shazier: Right.
Paula Franetti: You have to believe. Right?
Ryan Shazier: Yeah, the biggest thing is a lot of people always say, "Oh, I understand," or, "I know what you're going through." And the thing is, a lot of people really don't. A lot of people don't understand what you're going through, and can't relate. What they're going through compared to what we're going through is just totally different. We might not be able to relate to what they're going through, but being T-boned, and going through so many surgeries and having so many injuries, and still be able to overcome it. Just to be able to go through all this is amazing.
Paula Franetti: It is amazing. It's lonely, though.
Ryan Shazier: Yeah, yeah.
Paula Franetti: I mean, don't you find there's times where, because no one understands, you really spend a lot of time with your own mind.
Ryan Shazier: You can definitely be in a dark place, a lonely place, or a scary place. And I actually wanted to ask you about that. When they told you about the recovery and how long it was going to be, what was your thoughts?
Paula Franetti: Quite shocking because I'm self-employed, right? And they were telling me, you weren't going to be able to work at least for a year. And when you don't work, you don't get paid. Right? And I was 60 at the time, so here I am thinking, "I'm supposed to be getting closer to retirement, and now I have to start my whole life over again." It's like these negative thoughts, if you let them fester, they can take you to a really, really low place and make you think, "What's going to happen to me?" or make you afraid. But somehow you find that that inner spirit, that inner motivation to to say, "No, I am going to start all over again, and I'm going to make it."
Ryan Shazier: Yeah, definitely. People don't understand being in a dark place, being in a lonely place, and just fighting through all the injuries that you've gone through, and you had one accident that caused so many injuries. And for me, I had one accident that caused one injury, but it was still very dangerous, very traumatic. A lot of times people, they feel that you should be able to get over something in a beat of a second. Or me and my dad always like to call it the roller coaster effect. A lot of people when they're seeing a roller coaster, they're like, "Man, this roller coaster is going fast." But when you're on the roller coaster and you're feeling all the bumps and bruises in every turn, it feels like it's a lot longer than it actually is. A lot of people don't understand, don't relate, and you can definitely get in a lonely place, even if you have people close to you.
Ryan Shazier: And I want to ask you, do you feel like your family and friends were a big part of your recovery?
Paula Franetti: Oh, absolutely. When this happened, I'm single and I don't have children, and so I had to rely on family. My mom and dad had passed on, so I didn't have an immediate family. My sister in Florida came up and stayed with me for a few weeks. But the amazing thing is my cousin, my first cousin from Italy, came. I asked if she would come and live with me. I needed someone to live with me, and she lived with me for six weeks.
Ryan Shazier: Wow, that's amazing.
Paula Franetti: Yeah, totally amazing. And then my friends, my basketball friends and neighbors and what have you, they would come by. And even though everyone is there and supplying you with whatever you need, I think the hardest thing is losing your own independence. Like having to ask people to do the itty-bitty little things that you normally did for yourself, that's humbling, isn't it?
Ryan Shazier: Yeah, it's very humbling. A lot of things that we do on a day-to-day basis, we do it for ourselves. We can handle things for ourselves, and not even like when it comes to brushing our teeth, or even just getting out of the bed, those things are hard when you have to depend on somebody else to help you. And sometimes it almost feels like you're wasting other people's time, but you're not because you know they want to be there for you. But at the end of the day, normally you don't have to ask for help. The fact that you had to ask for help, it almost is like a burden on yourself because it feels like, "I know how I can do this by myself. I've been doing this myself my whole life, and now I feel I have to ask for somebody's help for every single thing I can do." And I know it's very frustrating.
Paula Franetti: I mean, did you struggle with like the... Just the fact that you had to ask, and like it's almost humbling. It's almost, you get like angry.
Ryan Shazier: I definitely went through a phase when I had to understand, "Hey, I need to ask for help," and, "Hey, I need to ask for guidance." Because it's certain things I couldn't do myself. I knew I couldn't walk up and down the stairs myself, or I knew I couldn't get in and out of bed myself sometimes, and so I needed help. I know I needed help when it came to just being able to be in the bed and turn a certain way. Just to be able to ask for help, ask for guidance, ask for the ones you love to be there for you. It means a lot to know that they're there for you, but it still was tough because you get into moments when you feel, "Hey, I've done this by myself my whole life, and now I need to ask for help," and it is very frustrating.
Paula Franetti: Yeah. And I think, caregivers, they want to help, but they don't know what's really going on in your mind. And so they get frustrated that you're frustrated, and I think it's a learning process for everyone, isn't it?
Ryan Shazier: Yeah, and it's definitely a learning process. You're learning what you're going through, learning what you're dealing with, but also people that's helping you learning what you're dealing with and learning the best way to help you, but not interfere with your recovery or interfere with your emotions. Because at the end of the day most people are going to be struggling and dealing with some type of pain and on a day-to-day basis, and it might not even be physical. It can be mental.
Paula Franetti: Right.
Ryan Shazier: And it can be frustrating, but a lot of times I'm just truly thankful for what my family did, and even being there because I can't imagine doing it by myself.
Paula Franetti: Yeah, it's tough. Did you find, too, that like, every day you're getting better and better, right?
Ryan Shazier: Yeah.
Paula Franetti: And so you needed to ask for help last week, but this week maybe you don't need to.
Ryan Shazier: Right.
Paula Franetti: But everybody still wants to do it for you because they think you need it. And so it's hard to judge when am I not needing help, and when do I need help?
Ryan Shazier: When did you feel like you needed help the most?
Paula Franetti: When I first came home. I went from intensive care, like to a regular hospital room, then to skilled nursing. And then I got home probably about a month after my accident. So I'm in my house and I'm home, but I can't do anything. And so I needed people to cook for me. I needed people to get water for me to take a sponge bath. Like everything, feed my kitties. It was so humbling, so very humbling.
Ryan Shazier: Any injury can be very humbling. Very, very tough to deal with. And very inspiring from other people's eyes. Did it frustrate you sometimes when people will say, "Hey, you're inspiring," because all the stuff that you had to deal with?
Paula Franetti: Yes. They all tell me, "Oh, you're so amazing. You're a miracle," and things like that, which is partly true, right? But I think that what I've learned from this experience is that everybody has that inner drive. They have to have a motivation to want to get better. And because you do it, that does make you look a little more inspiring or whatever, but anybody could do it.
Ryan Shazier: Yeah.
Paula Franetti: Right?
Ryan Shazier: Yeah. Anybody can do it. It's just we have to figure out a way to get our minds to understand every day is going to be a challenge, every day is going to be tough, but I have to fight through it. And what are some of the ways you feel that helped you overcome that or helped you get through that mental state?
Paula Franetti: I knew that it was going to be... They told me at least two years. And I'm an exercise physiologist and a health coach, so I know the body. And I knew that there were going to be certain phases that I just had to keep doing the best I can for my body so it can heal, and that I would get better and better. I would see progress and I just needed to see progress. I think you know what I'm saying. It's like just that little edge that you got today, it inspires you to go for something more the next day.
Ryan Shazier: Right, right.
Paula Franetti: Right? And that's what kept me going was like I would kind of like chart my own little can do, can't do's, and then I would keep motivating myself. Can I walk a little further today? Can I do this? And when I did, it's like, "Yes!"
Ryan Shazier: Yeah.
Paula Franetti: Yep. Yeah, right?
Ryan Shazier: It's definitely an amazing feeling and a feeling of gratification. That's just amazing to hear that. Paula, I know Dec. 4, 2017, was the day I got hurt, and I literally remember every single thing that happened today. Do you feel like you remember everything that happened on Sept. 13?
Paula Franetti: Yes. It's something that you'll never forget. In fact, I was on my way to work and I was sitting at the stoplight, and I had the red light, right? It turned green and I hesitated a bit, but I went through the green light. Out of nowhere, this guy came barreling down and just slammed into my car on my driver's side. The witnesses think he was going probably 50 to 60 miles an hour because the force was so great that it turned my car around. The back end of my car hit off the second row house and then bounced me back out into Forbes Avenue. And it was so surreal, right? I didn't expect that to happen in the least, but here I was in a state of like amazement.
Paula Franetti: And it was such a crazy experience because I literally thought I was dead. I had no pain. I was in a really peaceful place, and nothing around me made any sense. Like my car wasn't even there. All I remember is holding on to the steering wheel and sitting on the driver's seat, and that's all that was there. So that's what made me think that I had died. That's why I will never forget that moment because it was just surreal.
Ryan Shazier: Yeah. I know the feeling. We had a typical day for a game, and then it was, I thought it was just a regular hit. I went over there to make a tackle, and like you were saying, I feel like all the adrenaline you have going on, and I don't know if you had the adrenaline, but when something traumatic like that happens, you don't really feel it at the initial moment. So I know that feeling because from what you're saying, it's almost like your car had like a pinball effect. It hit the house, came back onto the street, and that sounds crazy to me. After that happened, did the ambulance come get you? How did things go after that?
Paula Franetti: Yeah, it was one of those things where I guess there were witnesses and people, someone called 911, and the ambulance showed up, the police showed up, things like that. I wasn't really aware of a lot of that. But the crazy thing was is that my car was so bent up and gasoline was leaking, the people that were bystanders were afraid that it was going to catch on fire, so they pulled me out of the car, and that's when my pain and part of my diaphragm was ruptured, so I couldn't breathe and my lung, my left lung was partially deflated, too. So I was having a really difficult time breathing. But I knew I was alive at that point. Right?
Paula Franetti: And they put me on the side of the... On a little stoop, and waiting for the ambulance to come. And you know you're trying in that moment to kind of piece together like, "What just happened to me?" Was that like your experience, too?
Ryan Shazier: Yeah. Well, I was just laying there, and it's a Monday Night Football game. And a lot of our games are during the daytime, so I'm just looking up at the lights, and it's almost like you can hear a pin drop in the stadium. I didn't understand what was going on in the moment when I was on the field, but the medical staff was there, and I was just talking to my doctors all the way on the way to the hospital. So it made me feel a lot better because I had somebody there at the moment. And honestly I feel like I could trust them because it was still a doctor, so that allowed me to be more trustworthy of the people because I already know them. It definitely was a scary moment.
Ryan Shazier: What hospital did you end up going to and what was the process from there?
Paula Franetti: Well, here's the amazing thing. Where my accident took place, I was four blocks away from UPMC Mercy.
Ryan Shazier: Oh, really?
Paula Franetti: Yeah, which is a trauma 1.
Ryan Shazier: Yeah, yeah.
Paula Franetti: You went to Mercy, right?
Ryan Shazier: Yeah, I was at Mercy. Yeah.
Paula Franetti: Yeah, right. And again, I wasn't fully aware of what was going on, but I just remember everybody like taking special notice of me and helping me get adjusted. I don't know, I don't know how many tests they ran on me. You're just like transported from one gurney to another, and to a test and things like that. And as day, morning went on, I guess, it was... The pain was getting worse and worse. And so finally I remember them saying, "Prep her for surgery." And I thought, "Thank God, I'm going to get out of pain, finally." You know?
Ryan Shazier: Yeah, that's what you think at first. Yeah.
Paula Franetti: Exactly. Because whatever they were giving me wasn't working and things. Yeah. But, yeah, it was amazing being in a trauma emergency place like that, because I had never been to one. Had you?
Ryan Shazier: I actually had surgery a few times, but I never had one as severe as the one I had before. I know a lot of times before surgery, like, "Hey, at least I'm going to get better, and, "I'm going to start feeling better." And I know you were feeling that at that moment. But I know you had one surgery, but you ended up having how many more?
Paula Franetti: Three more, I think. Well, procedures and what have you. And then a year later, a little bit after a year, it was like right around your accident, my diaphragm re-ruptured and I had to have another repair work done on my diaphragm. Yeah. I mean, I was like this close to being fully back.
Ryan Shazier: Oh, man. I'm sorry to hear that.
Paula Franetti: And then I did something and it just... I was swimming, and I must've injured my diaphragm, and so I had to go through the process of identifying what it was, and then go through another surgery, which then prolonged my whole recovery.
Ryan Shazier: How many surgeries would you say you had in a whole?
Paula Franetti: That's a good question. Because I had procedures, they had to do the internal bleeding thing. I had three surgeries at the very beginning on the day, or within a few days. And then after that, I had this external fixator to hold my pelvis together because I had seven fractures in my pelvis. And the amazing thing about the largest fracture in my pelvis was right in my sacrum. Very close to like where your injury. Yours was like in the lumbar vertebrae. But my sacrum, you know where the holes of your sacrum?
Ryan Shazier: Yeah.
Paula Franetti: Like that just snapped off.
Ryan Shazier: Oh, really?
Paula Franetti: Yeah. And so they had to put me back together, and I should have had like nerve problems, chronic pain, paralysis. They weren't sure, and I wasn't sure until like five days later, when I sort of was off the ventilator, and all these things were coming together, what... Am I going to be able to walk? That type of thing. So my heart goes out to you. I mean, it's like I can feel for you.
Ryan Shazier: It's definitely a scary feeling when you don't know if you're going to be able to walk again or get back to where you were. But it sounds like you've been making amazing progress, especially from all the things you just said you came from.
Ryan Shazier: What were some of the goals that you had? I know in every goal that we set, it doesn't matter if you've been injured, you play a sport, or even in real life, everybody has goals. And there's always a crossroad, a point where you're like, "Man, this is not going the way I want it to go." What are some of the things that you feel happened to you?
Paula Franetti: Yeah, that's funny that you should say about that crossroad experience. I remember I was in ICU, and I think it was right after I realized how many injuries I was dealing with. And I started thinking, "How am I going to live my life? What am I going to do?" And I got to a point where I really like started worrying, and it got darker and darker and darker. But then there was a point where I realized, "I have the best medical care that is going to put my body back together. But my life, the life that I want to live, is something they can't do for me."
Ryan Shazier: Right.
Paula Franetti: And I think I had that moment where I realized I'm the only one that can get me well. And being well to me meant being able to be as active as I was before the accident.
Paula Franetti: And so I decided right then and there, it's like, "I'm going to get well." And the thing that really cemented it for me was, I had this flashback of the accident, and I was holding the steering wheel, and I was sitting in the driver's seat. And when I had that moment where I realized I'm the one that's responsible for getting me back, I realized I'm the driver of this whole thing. Right?
Ryan Shazier: That's amazing.
Paula Franetti: Yeah, it was totally amazing. I mean it motivated me so much the first time I got into a wheelchair. Like for most people that would be depressing.
Ryan Shazier: Yeah.
Paula Franetti: For me it was like, this is a huge step in the right direction because I can become mobile now, and I literally could be the... I could experience being the driver.
Ryan Shazier: Right.
Paula Franetti: Right?
Ryan Shazier: Yeah. Because so much of your rehab and so much of what you went through, you had so many other people driving your life, and now that you had the steering wheels of the wheelchair, or even of your life, it makes you feel like you're more open, more independent. I know exactly what you mean when it comes to that type of goal and getting through that. What are some of the other goals that you had, that you feel that you had to overcome?
Paula Franetti: Well, in my case, because of all the fractures I had, I had to wait and wait and wait for them to heal. And so I thought a lot about... Like as an athlete and as an exercise physiologist, I knew how to do a progression, but I just... I couldn't... I had to get to the starting line to begin to do the progression. But once I was able to get up on my feet, I just started taking really small baby steps, and my goal was to get back the function of my legs to have my whole body work together. And I found when I started to walk, I started having other pains. Other things started showing up. My knee was screwed up, like I was getting neck pain and things like that.
Paula Franetti: So I started to swim, and swimming gave me a super, like, motivation, because there was something about the power that you feel when you're pulling that water. It made me feel strong again, and it made me feel like I was moving. And so I just started a slow progression of if I can do two laps this week, yeah, that was good. And then before you know it, I had worked myself up to an hour of continuous swim.
Ryan Shazier: Oh, really?
Paula Franetti: Yeah, and I was finding like little aids. Like I had a snorkel, so I didn't have to worry about turning my head to breathe. And I got little paddles, so I can increase the resistance and things. I think you can relate as an athlete, it's like, you can do this, you have to get stronger, you have to test yourself. And I had to, like, test myself. Sometimes I overdid it. Right?
Ryan Shazier: There's definitely going to be times when you overdo it. Sometimes when the doctor says, "Hey, you need to slow down," or things like that. But I feel a lot of those times, it helps you get to where you want to be. Sometimes you might go overdo it a little bit, but the extra that you're putting in actually is helping you more than somebody else that's not putting in that extra work. And that relates to football, and that relates to life. Whenever you put in a little bit extra work, a lot of times you get a better outcome, and you get a lot further than your counterparts.
Ryan Shazier: The extra work allows you to become a better, not just person, but it allows you become to better in life. And I think that comes a lot from sports. And I think all the adversity that I had to go through when it came to football definitely helped me out when it came to my injury. And I think the same thing probably could have happened for you, when it came to what you've done and what you're dealing with. The fact that you played basketball, you might have had some minor tweaks and things like that, so you understand.
Ryan Shazier: And then I just treated mine like a regular injury. "I have a spinal cord injury, I'm going to get back out there on the field. What are the steps have to take?" And I think that's the same thing you did. You had maybe small goals, minor goals, and then you just have to constantly think of them as a first down, or a free throw. Every time I take a free throw, I get one extra point.
Paula Franetti: Right.
Ryan Shazier: I'm not going to make a three every single time. Sometimes you make threes, but the fact that you get to shoot a free throw to get better is just letting you know you're making improvements.
Ryan Shazier: I heard that you was making a lot of improvements, that you almost started walking and then you ended up spraining your meniscus. Oh, was it sprain, or was it a tear?
Paula Franetti: It was still from the accident. The accident had caused this, but it didn't show up because I was in a wheelchair all that time. Yeah, I had a medial collateral tear, I had a meniscal tear. I had bone bruises. It was like getting clipped.
Ryan Shazier: I don't know if a clip is that bad. But definitely just the fact that you've been able to get over all that.
Paula Franetti: That was my first big setback, and I mean, I remember crying when I found out the MRI results. Because I just started to walk in a walker. It wasn't like I was walking, walking. And now it was like I had a pull back and let that heal. And I'm sure you've had these moments where it's like, you're like three steps ahead and then all of a sudden you're five back again.
Ryan Shazier: But the adversity always helps you get to where you want to be. What does that saying say? In the darkest part of the night is always before the sunrise.
Paula Franetti: Yes. Yeah. Yes.
Ryan Shazier: I think all that adversity we're both dealing with definitely helped us get to where we are now. I heard you wrote a book. What is the name of it? What is it called? What is it about?
Paula Franetti: Well, funny you should say. The book is called "Driving Force: How One Woman Rebounded from Life-Altering Injuries and You Can Too."
Ryan Shazier: OK.
Paula Franetti: Right? And it all came about from that moment of realizing I was holding the steering wheel and sitting in the driver's seat, and that was my driving force for being able to make it through all those adversities that you're talking about. Because I knew God had saved my life. Like, I knew there was a reason for me to be alive, but I had to go this long distance. And hearing that it was going to be two years, I thought, "I don't know. I don't know if I can go that long." Right?
Ryan Shazier: Yeah, two years is a long time.
Paula Franetti: Yeah, exactly. However, it didn't take two years. Right? Because of my faith, and being able to overcome those adversities, finding that spirit within you, and being able to utilize like the power that you have to heal, and to really envision what you want. And that's what Driving Force is all about, it's these six principles that I discovered as I was doing it, that led me down that road of being able to not give up, to go the distance.
Ryan Shazier: It's amazing how you use what you've gone through to motivate others. And then also let them know, "Hey, I've gone through this. This is how I rebounded, and here's some clues and some ways that I might be able to help you out." And that sounds like an amazing book.
Paula Franetti: Well, thank you. Thank you.
Ryan Shazier: This is your book and thank you so much for letting me have it. I'm definitely going to need you to sign it for me because I'm used to signing things for people, and it's just going to be an honor just to be able to read your book and see what you have to offer because I'm looking forward to it. Can you sign it for me?
Paula Franetti: Love to sign this for you, Ryan. There.
Ryan Shazier: Thank you.
Ryan Shazier: I'm Ryan Shazier. I want to thank you for listening to my 50 Phenoms podcast. Today, you heard the story of Paula Franetti who survived a devastating car crash. She is now using her experience to help others overcome difficult recoveries. Don't miss my next 50 Phenoms podcast with Lindsey Buczkowski. Find out how a serious foot injury made her realize that there is more to life than just soccer. Follow along with me by visiting upmc.me/50phenoms. Sign up to receive our emails and SMS alerts too.
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string(19) "2019-10-16 13:00:38"
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string(29571) "Lindsey Buczkowski suffered a severe Lisfranc injury to her left foot during a high school soccer game. The injury required two surgeries and months of rehabilitation, and some wondered if she would play soccer again. But instead of giving in, Lindsey buckled down in her recovery and made it back to the soccer field. Now she plans to become a physical therapist and use her own experiences to help others. Learn more about Lindsey’s story in episode 2 of “Ryan Shazier’s 50 Phenoms.”
Listen to more episodes of Ryan Shazier's 50 Phenoms Podcast
Read The Full Podcast Transcript
Announcer: Phenomenal comeback. Phenomenal story. Next, on Ryan Shazier's 50 Phenoms: from injury to inspiration.
Lindsey Buczkowski: So I was in a game, just a normal night, normal game. Everything was fun. I went to go trap the ball, I was turning, and instantly I just went into shock.
Announcer: In this episode of “50 Phenoms,” Ryan Shazier interviews Lindsay Buczkowski. Lindsey recently graduated from high school, where she played varsity soccer. In her sophomore year, Lindsey was seriously injured in a game, and she feared the worst.
Lindsey Buczkowski: We found out that it was a Lisfranc injury, which meant that I had to have two surgeries with a plate and five screws, and I'd be off of my foot for a decent amount of time.
Ryan Shazier: That's amazing that this injury really helped you define who you ended up being, helped you find out what you want to do in your major, helped you find out what you want to be in, and helped you be a better person.
Announcer: This is the story of how she overcame big odds to get back on the field and how the experience shaped her future.
Ryan Shazier: How you doing, Lindsey?
Lindsey Buczkowski: I'm good. How are you?
Ryan Shazier: I'm doing good. I heard you're going to Penn State.
Lindsey Buczkowski: Yes, I am.
Ryan Shazier: Unfortunately, you guys are going to see the Buckeyes every year, so you know I’m going to have to hit you with a “Go Bucks” every now and then. So I heard you and your sister going to get an opportunity to play soccer?
Lindsey Buczkowski: I'm going to try and play just for fun, but after my injury it's kind of difficult and my body can't really handle it anymore.
Ryan Shazier: So you had Lisfranc, right?
Lindsey Buczkowski: Yes, I did.
Ryan Shazier: So can you tell me what happened?
Lindsey Buczkowski: So I was in a game, just a normal night, normal game. Everything was fun. I went to go trap the ball, I was turning, and instantly I just went into shock.
Ryan Shazier: Yeah, I know that feeling. You know, I made a routine tackle. Once I hit the guy, I tried to get back up and then unfortunately I couldn't. I went into shock also. When you got off the field, you said your foot was flopping or hanging down. Did you guys go to the hospital immediately, or did you go on the ambulance? How did they take precautions on that?
Lindsey Buczkowski: So once I got off the field, they put me up on the bench. The trainer removed my shoe. But I was kind of nervous because I thought it was going to be deformed because that's what it felt like.
Ryan Shazier: Yeah.
Lindsey Buczkowski: So she got it off. It wasn't deformed, it was just very swollen. So she said I could go to the emergency room just to get it checked out. When I got there, they did x-rays. They said they couldn't really see anything. They kind of put me on like a soft cast and told me I'd be able to walk in about three or four days. So we had an orthopaedic appointment the next morning and they wanted to do an MRI, but because my foot was so swollen, he said it would be best to wait a while. So from that night is when I was on crutches. So we waited a while, got an MRI and found out that it was a Lisfranc injury, which meant that I had to have two surgeries with a plate and five screws and I'd be off my foot for a decent amount of time.
Ryan Shazier: Lisfranc: Every time I hear that, I know it's a tough recovery. Is that a common injury for people that play soccer?
Lindsey Buczkowski: No, it's not really common at all. That's why when I even heard of it, I was shocked. I didn't know what it was. I've never heard of it before, and they informed me that it happened mainly in car accidents. That's how serious it is, and a lot of people that sustain the injury don't come back from it. So that was another reason why I knew that I had to try my best to come back from it.
Ryan Shazier: You seem like you're competitive. If anybody doubts you, it seems like you're going to find a way to overcome whatever they said.
Lindsey Buczkowski: Yeah, and like I said: I mean, I have people that are on my side, but you always have people that aren't on your side. I remember I found out a few days later after I initially got injured, people were already going up to the trainers and the coaches asking, “Is she going to be able to play again? Is she going to be the same that she used to be?” And, I mean, as a player for the game you love, that makes you angry.
Ryan Shazier: Yeah, it definitely does.
Lindsey Buczkowski: It's devastating to me, but it's also devastating to other people. I remember having to call my coach for my Cup team and telling them that I wasn't going to be able to play the whole season. I remember my mom had to tell me that she thinks it was time to hang up my cleats, and hearing that as a young athlete, and, I mean, a pretty good athlete, that was just unacceptable to me. And it just, it wasn't an option.
Ryan Shazier: Yeah, no, I definitely understand. I get the same question a lot of times: “Are you going to play a game? How's the recovery going? You shouldn't play anymore.” At the end of the day, you know a lot of people are looking out for your best interests, but sometimes it is frustrating because you know where you want to be, what you want to be doing, and how much you put into it. So I know it was a very frustrating time for you, but it also shows how much heart you have because you just continued to fight and then you were able to play again. Right?
Lindsey Buczkowski: Yeah. I came back after about a year recovery, and throughout my recovery, I mean, I trained five days a week just to be able to possibly play again. I stayed every day after school for two hours. I went in increments, did what I can, and I was excited to be able to make improvements. And once I was allowed to swim, I did pool therapy just to really learn how to walk again because I was off my foot for so long. It was amazing being able to come back from something so devastating, and I had so many people next to me, motivating me, pushing me. My trainer and I came up with a motto, and it was, “No surrender.” And whenever I was frustrated, whenever I didn't want to do an exercise or workout, she would make sure to send me a text and it would say, “No surrender.” And I just kind of lived by that for what it was worth, and it got me where I needed to go.
Ryan Shazier: That's amazing. Everybody has to come up with something. When I first got hurt and I was in the hospital and it was constantly doing rehab, we would think the smallest milestones would be some of the biggest achievements we had. And from the outside looking in, you might take the babiest step in the world, but it's a huge improvement to you. But everybody else said, like, “That's not that big of a deal.” And the one thing that we used to do, we used to like to relate everything to football. Even though I played defense, I always used to like to say, “Oh, that's another first down because it takes four plays sometimes to get a first down. So every time you get a first down, eventually you can get enough first downs and you could score a touchdown. So that's the one thing that me and my dad and my family came up with.
Ryan Shazier: We just thank the Lord, say, “Thank you Lord for another first down,” and then just try to get another one. So the way you had “No surrender,” we had, “Hey, that's another first down.” So you’ve just got to find ways to motivate yourself, motivate others to help you keep pushing. What are some other goals that you may have?
Lindsey Buczkowski: I hope to play at Penn state. Not club, but just recreationally for fun. I enjoy the game, I love the game, and I'm able to get out there. So why won't I?
Ryan Shazier: That sounds amazing. Hopefully, one of your goals is to graduate, too. (Laughs) I'm in the same boat right now. Hopefully, I get to play soon. I really think I will. I'm hearing a lot of great things, and one of my goals is to graduate from Ohio State, too. So I'm doing what I had to do to finish up there. So we might be graduating together. So you said your trainer is the one that told you and you guys came up with the “No surrender,” right?
Lindsey Buczkowski: Yeah.
Ryan Shazier: So is that somebody you used to lean on a lot when you were dealing with some type of adversity or pain?
Lindsey Buczkowski: Yeah, she was there for me through it all: since the beginning and all the way till the end and if I ever need her. She was there the night I got injured, and she actually knew right away what type of injury it was. And I got to the hospital, my parents mentioned it to the people, and they didn't think that it was a Lisfranc, but they wanted me to go get it checked just to make sure. And it was. I knew I had a long journey ahead of me.
Ryan Shazier: Yeah. You know, the moment they tell you the injury that you have, sometimes you try to think it over and be like, “Hey, I know I'm going to be OK right away.” Then sometimes you just have to have a reality check and understand, “Hey, there's going to be a little longer process than I want, but if I really want to get better, this is the route I have to take.” So I know a few times I've been at practice or I've been watching football games, and I'll just start crying or just be in tears. And sometimes I'll talk to my wife. Sometimes I'll talk to my trainer. Sometimes we’ll talk about the, the way I used to play, or the old things that happened, or the route that I have in the journey that I have ahead of me. Is that the same things that you used to do with your trainer and your family?
Lindsey Buczkowski: Yeah, so my family knows I'm not much of an emotional person, but when it comes to my injury I can talk about it. But if I'm looking at my coach or if I'm talking to any of my coaches about it, I instantly like start to tear up and it's just a very hard subject for me. And not everybody knows exactly what I went through. And I think that's hard for them to understand where I'm coming from and for me because it was so difficult. But if you don't go through something, you don't know how to handle it.
Ryan Shazier: You’re right about that. And honestly, I feel that the fact that you played soccer really helped you overcome a lot of this because in soccer, just like football with any sport, you have to be disciplined, work hard, and constantly push yourself every day to get where you want to be. And even when it comes to injury or anything, you have to just constantly push. And I feel once you found out what you had, (you knew) there's going to be some tough times. Just like in practice, there's some tough days, but once you get through it and you see where you want to be, you're in the game and you're performing like you were, like you always wish you would. So I know it was just always a tough time and it was a long recovery, but now you made it. And I know sometimes you probably go back to the people that doubted you and be like, “See, I told you so.” And I don't want to say “I told you so” to your mom, but how did that make you feel when your mom told you, you should hang up your cleats?
Lindsey Buczkowski: I think that comment was more the heat of the moment. She was devastated. I mean, she's been watching me since I was 4. And I understand everybody deals with it in their own ways, but at that moment it made me angry. And I just proved it to her, and she was more than happy to see me back on the field. I mean, that's where her and my dad loved watching me the most, and it was nice to be able to step back on the field again and have their support.
Ryan Shazier: I know it was amazing. And my parents, they've always been there for me, and my wife's been there for me, and there's times in the back of their head they're probably like, “Man, I don't know if Ryan should go back out there and do it.” But there’s also times when they see you doing the recovery and see you during the rehab, they're your strongest supporter. So I know it really made her feel good just to see you back out there, sitting in the stands and just seeing her daughter out there playing again. But in those tough moments, people are just speaking out of emotion and scared because you just never know the situation, never know how bad things are going to be. And then when people will tell you, “Hey, it's over,” most people, they’re close-minded and they're scared.
Ryan Shazier: So I'm not saying that she is, it’s just a scary moment and you have to just try to figure a way to get over it. But honestly, you've been pushing and fighting every day, and look where you are now. So Lindsey, what are some of the things that you feel that help motivate you to keep pushing?
Lindsey Buczkowski: I mean, you have the people that are in your corner, but you also have the people that are going against you. And that really motivated me to prove to myself. I mean, I had coaches who knew the type of player I was and could be and the potential I had. I was training to go (Division) 1. That was my goal. Soccer was my life before. Once I got hurt and seeing that like flash before your eyes and just be taken away, it was devastating. And I knew I had to prove to myself that even if I wasn't the player that I used to be, I can become a better person and I can let my injury not finish my soccer career, but just push me into the field that I want to go into and help motivate me and just show other people that sports aren't your life. They can be a part of your life. And that's what I learned from my injury.
Ryan Shazier: Oh, that's amazing. I honestly don't know exactly how old you are, but I know I played football since probably older than you are now. And, you know, I played football since I was 4 years old. And I'm 26 now, and last year was the first year I didn't play football. Just being able to fight through and constantly be motivated by the people around me, like you said, and just trying to be a better person and trying to be a better teammate, be a better friend, and be a better father, I think those things really helped me get through it. And that's amazing that this injury really helped you define who you ended up being, helped you find out what you want to do in your major, helped you find out what you want to be in. It helped you be a better person. And I think the same for my injury.
Ryan Shazier: What is some of the things that you had to overcome in high school? Because I know being injured at high school is tough as it is. And then if you're already a star, it’s like, coming back from something is not the same life you lived before. So was that pretty hard to overcome?
Lindsey Buczkowski: It was difficult. I mean, especially because the teachers knew the type of athlete I was, how serious I was about it. And I was on crutches for three and a half months, and that's how I had to get around the hallways. And I'd have teachers say, “When are you going to get off those things?” or “What injury did you even have?” And nobody really understands what you go through unless you go through it or you're close with someone that goes through it. And it was difficult hearing certain teachers ask me those questions because they didn't know how difficult it really was for me because not only are injuries like physically tough, but there's a big mental part in it, too. And once you get over the physical pain, you still have so much mental obstacles to get through.
Lindsey Buczkowski: And I'm not much of an emotional person, but any time I would have to talk to my coaches about my injury or why I wasn't playing like I used to and why am I not playing as much, and they would give me the answer. But in that moment you just think, “I am that player.” I'm still that player because your mind is where your athletics used to be, but your body is something different, and it changes. And I realized that over time.
Ryan Shazier: Yeah, that's definitely harder to get over with. You want to be who you were. It's your body's adjusting, and you have to really just mentally prepare yourself for something new, something different. And a lot of people don't understand what you're going through. A lot of people just see it, but they don't feel it. And they’re always trying to rush you back to something that you were before, but they never really know what you're going through. All the time people ask, “When are you going to be back? When are you going to play again?” And, hey, man, if I could just click my finger and play again, I would. And I promise you I would. But it's just a grind, and then I constantly see that you're motivated, and you have great people around you. So it's amazing to see how well you've been recovering and how well you recovered. So are you looking forward to going to Penn State now?
Lindsey Buczkowski: I am looking forward to it. It's something new. I'm so excited to start my major, start my life, and to just keep helping other people. Possibly I'll see the same injury that I went through and know exactly how to help them mentally and physically or see something else that's challenging and just be there for people. Because you don't know: Everybody handles things differently, and just giving them some input on how you went through your injury and how you recovered is amazing. Because everybody sees when you get better. That's what they see. But they don't see you when you're in the training room for two hours or doing your exercises by yourself and this and that. They just see that you got better. And I'm glad that people watched me get better and saw me get better. But once again, they didn't see the hard times that I went through.
Lindsey Buczkowski: And just for you as well. They don't see what you go through on the daily, the challenges. I'm sure your back gets sore and hurts, and my foot does the same thing. I can't do everything that I used to without it being an inconvenience. I mean, there's times that I forget the injury happened, but then you're just doing normal daily activities, and you get a reminder. It starts getting sore, there's a sharp pain, and you just have to know how to handle it without other people knowing because you're not going to project your everyday feelings when they don't understand.
Ryan Shazier: You're right about that, and my dad had a great saying to me: He’s like, “Life is like a roller coaster.” Everybody looking in, they say, “Man, it's going fast,” but when you're on the ride, it seems like it's taking forever. So, man, what you said is really powerful. When you said that you're able to help a lot of people that you never thought you'd be able to help before: What are some of the things that people ask you and some of the people you feel like you're able to help?
Lindsey Buczkowski: I actually just love helping people, and I learned that even more after my injury. I mean, I've worked the Pittsburgh Marathon the last two years in the medical tents. I've just learned so many things. People have reached out to me through social media. They saw my commercial, or they saw the broadcast, and they went through the same injuries and asked me how I handled it, or is it normal to feel this type of pain, or what kind of exercises did you do, or if I got back to running or not. And I would answer all their questions because I know what they're going through, and it's not easy. I just really enjoy being there for people, and I want to be an inspiration to others to get back to what they love doing. And it just means something to me that even though I went through that and it was so difficult for me, if I can help other people, if they're going to the same thing or even something similar and it makes it easier for them, I love that.
Ryan Shazier: That's amazing. I always felt that I was an inspiration to people even before I got hurt. In football, I'm not saying, “Oh, man, I'm such an inspiration.” But I know I would help motivate people to try to be where I'm at when it came to football. And the fact that I've gotten injured, now I'm able to motivate people and inspire people to get up every day and just fight every day. Because the same thing I'm going through somebody else is going through that, or if they're not even going through that, (there’s) just the struggle to get up every day and to be the best person that they can be.
Ryan Shazier: And just to know that you're really able to help people, just to know that you’re really able to get the best out of people is an amazing feeling. Because sometimes I know I needed others to help me out to get where I'm at, especially with my injury. And now that I'm able to help others that I don't even know, it's an amazing feeling. And I'm glad to hear that you’ve been able to do the same thing because I don't think the Lord put us here just to help ourselves. So I'm really glad that you're doing these types of things and helping people a lot. So you do the marathon, or you just help out?
Lindsey Buczkowski: I just help out. So I worked in the medical tents, just helped people when they came in, got them help, got them ice, whatever they needed. But a teacher in my district actually reached out to me the other week, and his daughter was a soccer player, and she just recently had a Lisfranc injury. And it's a very rare injury, and she luckily didn't tear anything. So she didn't have to have any surgeries, but it's still very hard to go through and fix the ligaments and repair them. So he texted me and asked if things were normal, if it was supposed to hurt when she ran. And I answered all of his questions, and I told him I am willing to train with her if she wants me to, just be with her if she wants me to, talk to her, tell her what to expect: the truth about it. Doctors tell you the truth, obviously, but they do it in a way that it's not, not as serious, but it doesn't impact you as much.
Ryan Shazier: Yeah.
Lindsey Buczkowski: In that moment.
Ryan Shazier: Yeah. They don't want to make it burn.
Lindsey Buczkowski: Yeah. They don't want to throw it all in your face at that point in time, but I would just be there for her and help her train, help her get through it, get back to the sport. Luckily, she didn't have to have surgery, so she can fully recover, and I'd love to see her be able to get back to the sport that I love and have this injury, but not let it stop her.
Ryan Shazier: That's amazing. Just the fact that you had surgery and you were able to get back to where you're at. I heard some things about Lisfranc, and I know people that play soccer and do Lisfranc. Sometimes they don't have the same outcome that you have, so to hear that you're doing so great and helping others is amazing, and it's always a good feeling to help people in your same position or same sport just to be the best person they can be. I know I have the same situation. We have a guy here that that plays the same position as me, or even some of the guys that don't play the same position as me. I try to help those guys out as much as I can and be a mentor or big brother or even give them knowledge that I have that they didn't have. And just the fact that you're able to help somebody in the same scenario is amazing. How was the surgery? Were you nervous when you had to get surgery?
Lindsey Buczkowski: I was nervous for it, but I knew that my surgeon was going to do the best that he could. When I first found out about the injury, he told me, “You're in luck.” And I said, “Why?” He goes, “You get a two for one deal.” And I said, “What do you mean?” He goes, “You have to unfortunately get two surgeries.” So he was trying to be funny about it, and I knew that's what I had to do to get back. I had a plate and five screws put in the first surgery, and if I wanted to play again, I had to get them removed. And I wanted to play again, so I knew that's what I had to do. And the surgery went well. I was nervous before, but once I was in the operating room and prepping, I was fine. And whatever happened was going to happen, and that's what my attitude was throughout the surgery.
Ryan Shazier: So did you have to rehab after the first surgery and then after the second surgery also?
Lindsey Buczkowski: Yeah, so I started rehabbing right after I got the injury. So I started rehabbing just to keep as much quad strength as I possibly could because I knew I was going to be off of my leg for months. So I rehabbed before. After the first surgery, I did every day after school for two hours. And then after the second surgery, I also rehabbed. But luckily after the second surgery, it wasn't as intense as the first.
Ryan Shazier: So about how long did it take you to rehab for the second surgery?
Lindsey Buczkowski: The second surgery, I luckily only really had to be on crutches for about two weeks, but it probably took about four to six weeks before I could really run again.
Ryan Shazier: So what did you end up doing with your crutches after you got rid of them?
Lindsey Buczkowski: I got them out of my sight. I did not want to see them again. They were my life for that amount of time. I mean, I didn't really have any other way of transportation around the house, around anywhere I wanted to go. So they were a part of my life for months, and that's what my life turned into. And it was just a routine.
Ryan Shazier: I had a walker, and I don't remember how long I had it, but I had it for a while. And it was so funny because I'm learning a lot from the coaches and one of the coaches was like, “Hey, we think is going to be funny.” One of our coaches had a hip replacement, and he was like, “Man, does anybody know where we get a walker with little tennis balls on it?” I was like, “Hey, I have one of those. You can have mine. I don't want it anymore.” I thought it was just a funny way to just literally let that part of my life go and move on. Those things (can) be with you for a while, especially (because) a lot of people don't understand you're in this process and going through something. And it, it just, it seems like it's so long to you.
Ryan Shazier: So once you get past it, it just feels like such a relief. And whenever you get the opportunity to do something to move on, it’s just one of the biggest, most grateful feelings that you have. So I truly understand where you're coming from. I understand you had a cane. I had a walker and a cane, so it’s just an amazing feeling. So I'm glad to hear that, that you're really feeling great and you're doing so much better.
Lindsey Buczkowski: Thank you.
Announcer: “Ryan Shazier’s 50 Phenoms,” in partnership with UPMC.
Ryan Shazier: I'm Ryan Shazier. I want to thank you for listening to my “50 Phenoms” podcast. Today you heard the story of Lindsey Buczkowski, who battled back from a rare foot injury and found her calling in the process. Don't miss my next “50 Phenoms” podcast with kidney transplant donor Clay Warfield and recipient Omar Foster, two friends who would do anything for each other and prove it. You can follow along with me by visiting UPMC.me/50phenoms. Sign up to receive our emails and SMS alerts, too."
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string(49435) "Omar Foster needed a kidney desperately. His best friend and workout partner Clay Moorefield stepped up and donated his kidney to help save Omar’s life. After that, Clay and Omar worked together in the gym to get back to full strength. Today they’re closer than ever and hope to be an inspiration to others. Learn more about Clay and Omar’s story on Episode 3 of Ryan Shazier’s 50 Phenoms.
Listen to more episodes of Ryan Shazier's 50 Phenoms Podcast
Read The Full Podcast Transcript
Announcer: Phenomenal connection. Phenomenal story. Next, on “Ryan Shazier's 50 Phenoms”: from training partners to transplant patients.
Omar Foster: We were using, um, it's like a paint gun, and you spray the wall and then you roll it. And I accidentally hit my finger, and it like, you know, opened my finger up. So you know you can't really shoot paint into your body, you can get real sick, so I actually had to get rushed to the hospital.
Announcer: In this episode of “50 Phenoms,” Ryan Shazier talks with Omar Foster and Clay Moorefield 00:00:33, two friends who went from being training partners to transplant patients, and why they now hope their story will inspire others to make the same life-saving decision.
Omar Foster: They started doing some blood work, and they started noticing some things, like something's going on. You know, your kidney’s not functioning like it should be. So they kept me overnight.
Clay Moorefield: The kidney started getting worse. And then this is when, um, he had talked to me about it and said he needed a kidney done. And I told him that if I was a match, I would do it.
Ryan Shazier: Just staying healthy and living the right lifestyle, I think, is amazing. And just to see that you're doing it and able to help him out, man, it's just- just awesome.
Ryan Shazier: That's the amazing part about friends and family, man -- you know, like the sacrifice that they put on the table for you. You know? I was in denial when I first got hurt. I was, you know, I was talkin’ to a doc, I was like, "Yo, I wanna be back out here in a few weeks."
Clay Moorefield: (laughs)
Ryan Shazier: He was looking at me like, “Hey man, I guess you don't understand what you're dealing with,” you know. And you probably were feeling the same thing, you know: “I'm all right.”
Omar Foster: Yeah.
Ryan Shazier: You know, you feeling like you’re invincible, you know?
Omar Foster: Right.
Ryan Shazier: At the end of the day, family’s always there, they always understand when you need us, and when you need them the most.
Ryan Shazier: So how did you guys end up meeting? How was life before, you know, the transplant?
Omar Foster: We met, uh, about 12 years ago, 11 years ago.
Clay Moorefield: 11 years ago.
Omar Foster: We met at one of our services, our religious services.
Ryan Shazier: All right.
Omar Foster: And, um, we just instantly bonded, had a great connection, and then we just got super tight. From there we just- it became brothers. Through our first gathering, getting together, we started doing things -- you know, going out to eat, hanging, talking all the time on the phone, meeting each other at service every Friday, and things like that. And our bond just kind of grew from there.
Clay Moorefield: It was kind of strange too because the way that he approached me- (laughs)- was kind of awkward, like just coming up and just introducing himself and just saying he kind of knew certain things about me and just wanted to meet me and stuff like that. And I didn't feel anything weird from it. Like, usually that would be kind of strange because nobody just, like, comes up to you that you don't really know like, "Hey, how you doing? My name is such, and such."
Ryan Shazier: Yeah.
Clay Moorefield: But it was just like natural, like I just felt at ease and felt like nothing weird was going on about it. And then, you know, we just got to talking for a few minutes there and exchanged numbers and then we just started building the friendship from that point forward.
Ryan Shazier: That's amazing. Did you already have a gym by then, or?
Clay Moorefield: Training a little bit, but I wasn't working at that time. I wasn't even a personal trainer at that time. It was 2008.
Ryan Shazier: Eight, so... what all, what all did you guys like to do together?
Omar Foster: We do pretty much almost everything together. We work out for sure. We go out and eat, he comes over. My kids, you know, this is like my brother. It's not even a friendship, it's family. So, he'll go over my mom's house. He comes to my house. Uh, my kids call him uncle. We do a lot of things together.
Omar Foster: We done been to boxing matches, uh, you know pretty much everything.
Ryan Shazier: Yeah, that's amazing. My trainer actually is my best friend also. It's crazy: We went to high school together in Plantation, Florida. And I used to train out in the area in Arizona, and I was like, man, my kids are in Columbus -- one of my sons is in Columbus, and I was like, man, I just needed to have someone closer and that I could trust. Then I just asked my friend. I was like, "Hey, would you take the time to be my trainer?" He actually had no background in it. You know your friends, like this ain't your only friend.
Omar Foster: Right.
Ryan Shazier: You know who’s really committed, who’s not.
Omar Foster: Yeah.
Ryan Shazier: Who’s gonna take something serious. Who’s gonna give everything they got for it. He became my trainer the year before I got hurt and he took it serious, and now he's a certified trainer.
Omar Foster: Nice.
Ryan Shazier: He's doing real good things, and -- and like he comes to my house all the time, you know. My kids call him “Uncle Forty” and everything like that.
Clay Moorefield: (laughs)
Ryan Shazier: So it's kind of cool, man, just to see y'all relationship like that because I could definitely relate to it because my best friend is my trainer and my brother also.
Ryan Shazier: What ended up happening, and uh, how did you find out about your kidney?
Omar Foster: I was working for my uncle. I was in the painters’ union before I owned my own business. I had got injured on the job. We were using, um, it's like a paint gun, and you spray the wall and then you roll it. And I accidentally hit my finger, and it like, you know, opened my finger up. So you know you can't really shoot paint into your body, you can get real sick, so I actually had to get rushed to the hospital. They were fixing me up, but then they started doing a little bit of blood work. My blood pressure was really, really high. Then they started doing some blood work, and they started noticing some things, like something's going on. You know, your kidney’s not functioning like it should be. So they kept me overnight.
Ryan Shazier: OK.
Omar Foster: So I actually went to the hospital just for an injury where I was going to get like stitches or something.
Ryan Shazier: Right.
Omar Foster: And they were like, "No, we're gonna keep you." I think, I want to say my blood pressure was like 200 over like 110.
Ryan Shazier: Oh, man!
Omar Foster: It was like, almost, they were like, “you’re about to have a stroke!” I didn't notice it, you know, so.
Ryan Shazier: Yeah, man. Like you said, I don't know y'all religion, but in my religion they say, "That's God timing."
Omar Foster: Absolutely.
Ryan Shazier: Sometimes God has a plan and he puts you in a position to make sure you’re taken care of.
Ryan Shazier: How did you end up finding about his kidney and what he was going through?
Clay Moorefield: He wears his emotions on his sleeve. So I had called him, and the way that his voice sounded, I didn't know he was in the hospital, it was just like really deep and really low-sounding. So I was like, "What's wrong?" He's telling me he's in the hospital. And he was just saying how high his blood pressure was, and he had stayed overnight. It kind of worried me a lot. I do almost everything with this guy.
Ryan Shazier: Yeah, right.
Clay Moorefield: Like, I confide in this guy about a lot of stuff like that, so this is like the person that I talk to the most.
Ryan Shazier: Yeah.
Clay Moorefield: I was really concerned about it. He kind of recovered. I think they put him on a blood pressure medication, so everything was like normal. This was 2012 or ‘13 somewhere. It was a while ago.
Ryan Shazier: All right.
Clay Moorefield: So nothing happened after that. He started taking his medication. Then everything was smooth from that point forward. But as the years started going on, the kidney started getting worse and then this is when, um, he had talked to me about it, said he need a kidney done. And I told him that if I was a match, I would do it.
Clay Moorefield: After saying it to him, I went home and prayed about it. Then I started doing research about if I was to give a kidney, what were going to be the long-term effects on my body.
Ryan Shazier: Right.
Clay Moorefield: So when I start seeing that the person that's the donor don't really have issues as long as they maintain healthy lifestyle, I'm like, I live a healthy lifestyle already, this is my life. And then I talked to one of my brothers about it. I'm like, "Omar needs a kidney." He’s like, "Oh, I'll give him one of mine." So this is how my family loves him all.
Ryan Shazier: Right.
Clay Moorefield: So when I heard that, I was like, wow, it's like a done deal, it's like a sign that this is gonna happen. I went 2016, September, if I'm not mistaken, I went to UPMC to see if I had the right blood. And when the blood work came back I was a match for -- I'm almost a match for anybody. I think it's O positive, or something like that.
Ryan Shazier: My wife's like that, yeah.
Clay Moorefield: So I was like, "OK, cool." But it got delayed because his kidney was functioning at a higher level than they actually thought it was.
Ryan Shazier: Oh yeah?
Clay Moorefield: Yeah, so it got delayed about a year and a half. It started getting worse from that point. He went in, he was kind of delaying it because he didn't want to, but they had to like take the-
Omar Foster: Dialysis.
Clay Moorefield: Yeah, start cleaning the blood out through this thing, a machine. It's like they connect some veins that create -- it almost looks like a deformity --
Ryan Shazier: Right.
Clay Moorefield: in your arm, and he was like hesitant from doing it. So he was, um, prolonging the situation. So my only concern at that time was hopefully nothing drastic happens.
Ryan Shazier: Yeah.
Clay Moorefield: You’ve got to get tested a month before the actual surgery happens, so if something drastic happens, I'm not on deck. I'm gonna have to get checked, then we're gonna have to wait a month, so you're gonna have to get, what's the thing they put in your neck?
Omar Foster: It's a fistula as well, but it goes into your chest cavity.
Clay Moorefield: Yeah, so it would’ve been a more dangerous process because they say people that do that --
Omar Foster: It's a port.
Clay Moorefield: end up getting infections and stuff like that. Yeah, like it's a more dangerous situation. But, you know, by the grace of God, none of that happened. He finished coaching his basketball season, and then I got checked up. We were supposed to do it on my actual birthday, March 27.
Ryan Shazier: (laughs)
Clay Moorefield: So he was like, "No, we're not -- it's your birthday; we are not doing it on your birthday.” I'm like, man, it's another day.
Ryan Shazier: (laughs)
Clay Moorefield: But then they ended up giving us a date three days later. So we went to dinner on my birthday, and then three days later the surgery happened.
Ryan Shazier: That's amazing, man.
Ryan Shazier: How were you able to allow yourself to have somebody this close to you, to take his kidney? Because I know that's an emotional....
Omar Foster: Oh, I fought with it. I was struggling with it, you know, because he has a son, and my thing was, like, “Bro, what if your son gets sick or somebody else?” He doesn't tell you, he kind of bullied me into it, in a sense.
Ryan Shazier: (laughs)
Omar Foster: You know? He was like, "Bro, I'm doing it. I'm doing this." You know? I didn't really ask him.
Ryan Shazier: (laughs)
Omar Foster: I had just told him, like "Bro, I need a kidney." Like, all right, well, I'm gonna go-
Omar Foster: It was emotional, you know, just for somebody to even, um, love you like that.
Ryan Shazier: Yeah.
Omar Foster: You know what I mean? To be able to lay on the table, and, you know, to give you an organ. It's like, people I knew my whole entire life that, you know, probably wouldn't even consider it.
Ryan Shazier: Right.
Omar Foster: And, you know, I don't blame them for it, but, you know.
Omar Foster: So yeah, it was emotional, and he was real persistent. They were -- my family was upset because he wanted to do it almost kind of right away. He was just like, "Bro just give me 30 days," because he had clients.
Ryan Shazier: Yeah.
Omar Foster: He said, "Let me close out my clients." And I was like, "Man, I'm in the middle of a basketball season. We might go to the championship, so no." So I was trying to hold him off, so he agreed to that part. You know, my mom and them were a little upset, but he agreed. And after just him just being so persistent, you know, then I honestly started feeling sick. 'Cause there was a period of time when he first went and got tested, they were saying my kidney was bad, but I was kind of in denial, you know? 'Cause I was still working out. I could tell that I probably wasn't 100 percent, but I was like, "I don't need no kidney." We’re both strong faith, you know, so I was like praying and I think I'm gonna be OK, you know, it's gonna turn around. But, um, after that season, I started wearing down a little bit.
Ryan Shazier: Yeah.
Omar Foster: I wasn't able to work out as hard. I actually started coming to work out with him. I was on the treadmill, and I just seen him looking at me, and he's like, "Damn, man, my bro’s a little tired."
Ryan Shazier: Yeah.
Omar Foster: And I was, and I was pushing myself trying to get back to my pace that we usually work out at, but I couldn't. So long story short, after the season he was like, "Bro, we’re doing this," and it just kind of went from there. I was like, "OK." It was easier for me to accept it because I was like, "Damn, I do need it."
Ryan Shazier: Yeah.
Omar Foster: And my brother's like, "Man, I'm doing it," so I wouldn't buck him anymore. (laughs)
Ryan Shazier: Yeah, man, that's the amazing part about friends and family, man, you know, the sacrifice that they put on the table for you.
Omar Foster: Yeah, right.
Ryan Shazier: You know I was in denial when I first got hurt also. You know, I was talking to a doc, "Yo, I want to be back out here in a few weeks."
Omar Foster: (laughs)
Ryan Shazier: He was looking at me like, “Hey, man, I guess you don't understand what you're dealing with.”
Omar Foster: Right.
Ryan Shazier: You know? And you probably were feeling the same thing --
Omar Foster: Right.
Ryan Shazier: you know, I'm all right.
Omar Foster: Yeah.
Ryan Shazier: You know? You’re feeling like you're invincible, you know?
Omar Foster: Right.
Ryan Shazier: But at the end of the day, family’s always there. They always understand when you need us, and when you need them the most.
Omar Foster: Right.
Ryan Shazier: That's amazing the strength that you had to be able to do that for him, man.
Clay Moorefield: He was withholding a lot of information from me. You know, I can look at him some days and he looked tired, like his eyes were always looking drained. They were like yellow. So I could see it in his face, but I'm just like, "Oh, he's doing a lot." You know? Doing a lot with his business, plus we’re working out. But his now-wife, she called me and was like, "Bro, um, get on top of your brother, he's sick. He's not gonna tell you. Don't tell him I told you." (laughs)
Ryan Shazier: Yeah.
Clay Moorefield: So I'm watching him now. But this is after we already know. And I had got tested a year prior. So I'm like, "How you been feeling?" Now he's kind of like, "Yeah, I've been -- I'm a little tired, man, I've been a little tired lately." But he's not really saying nothing.
Ryan Shazier: Yeah.
Clay Moorefield: So I don't think he's -- I don't know if he's just withholding it, or he's not trying to spook me.
Ryan Shazier: Yeah.
Clay Moorefield: But as the weeks are going, on he kind of started opening up and started saying everything, things are getting worse, and he starts telling me how he's sleeping in the middle of the day like it's at night.
Ryan Shazier: Yeah.
Clay Moorefield: Like going to sleep at 12, not waking up until 6 or 7 in the evening. I'm like, “That's completely abnormal for you. That's not what you do.” We kind of stopped training, and then that's when the process really started happening, getting checked out and stuff like that. You know, like, he was saying he wanted to finish out his basketball season. So I'm like, "Really?" (laughs)
Omar Foster: You- you the coach.
Clay Moorefield: Let the other coach finish it out, we’ve got to get this done. But once he finally got done, I was like, well, you know, like he said, I needed to, clear my schedule and that. I had to tell all my clients I was going to be gone for a couple months without training. And I just wanted to, you know, because they pay me for a period of time. So I'm like, well, I’ve got to close everybody out and make sure they get everything done.
Ryan Shazier: Yeah.
Clay Moorefield: And then once I closed it out, everything kind of fell right in line. Then I just told everybody I was going to be out for a couple months, and that’s when we went from that point forward.
Ryan Shazier: Was that moment scary, March 30? Both of y'all had to go to the hospital the same day, you know, and pretty much get the procedure done. I'm not a fan of surgery. I had it a few times. Every time coming back from it, you know, you’re not feeling the same as when you went in. So how was that moment?
Omar Foster: He wasn't scared at all. He was actually excited. I was kind of like, a little bit like, “Oh, goodness.” I even tried -- I said, "Bro, you don't even got to do this." This on the day of surgery.
Clay Moorefield: The morning. The morning of.
Omar Foster: He's like, “What's wrong with you, man?” (Laughs) He goes, "Get it together." I was a little nervous, you know. I started worrying a little just thinking about both of us, you know?
Ryan Shazier: Yeah.
Omar Foster: Because I just wanted, you know, both of us to be good, come out of there healthy. He's like excited.
Ryan Shazier: Yeah.
Omar Foster: So once I seen that, and then my family was just like, “Clay’s just so excited” --
Ryan Shazier: Yeah.
Omar Foster: So I was like, "OK, all right. I guess I need to cheer up a little bit."
Ryan Shazier: Yeah, he's excited because he feels he’s got the best kidney in the world.
Omar Foster: Yeah, that's what he said. (laughs)
Clay Moorefield: Listen, that's not -- that's no exaggeration. (laughs)
Omar Foster: What did you say? He told my family, he said, "I'm the guy you give the ball to when it's time to score the basket."
Clay Moorefield: When it's time to win the game.
Omar Foster: That's what he said. (laughs)
Ryan Shazier: All right, all right. You’re Jordan out here. You’re Jordan.
Clay Moorefield: Yeah, that's what I was feeling like. So we walk into the visiting room, his family's there, so I'm the last one to come in. When I finally get in, I'm like, "What's wrong with y'all? Why’s everybody look down?" Everybody looked like they're nervous. So I'm like, “I should be the one nervous!”
Ryan Shazier: Yeah.
Clay Moorefield: I'm the one who's getting it taken out.
Ryan Shazier: (laughs)
Clay Moorefield: So I says, "Relax, I'm the person that they pass the ball to when it's time to win the game."
Omar Foster: (laughs)
Ryan Shazier: You need somebody.
Clay Moorefield: Everybody loosened up. From that point forward, it was just smooth.
Ryan Shazier: Yeah.
Clay Moorefield: But a concern I had of mine was the acceptance. I really wasn't concerned about the actual process. I don't got no tattoos. Besides getting physicals every year and getting shots and stuff like that, I've never been under major surgery or nothing. So this was very new for me.
Ryan Shazier: Yeah.
Clay Moorefield: My thing was, is your body going to accept it? That was my only concern.
Ryan Shazier: Yeah.
Clay Moorefield: I'm like, I'm pretty confident with the team we have. We talked to them, Dr. Tevar, and like the whole staff was amazing and they were really good with preparing us for it.
Ryan Shazier: Right.
Clay Moorefield: But my only concern was like, OK, if it don't accept it, I'm out a kidney. You're still going to need more kidneys. I don't have another one to give you.
Ryan Shazier: Yeah.
Clay Moorefield: So that was my only concern, but once the surgery had happened, I woke up, and when I woke up there was a clock on the wall. So I knew exactly when I went under and I woke up, and I was like, wow, it was like exactly three hours. But I felt relaxed.
Ryan Shazier: Yeah.
Clay Moorefield: I didn't feel no pain. I just woke up and I'm looking around feeling, "OK, nothing’s wrong.”
Ryan Shazier: You’re a different breed, man. (laughs)
Clay Moorefield: (laughs) It was strange. It was really strange. So the nurse came over, and she took the -- whatever the cup is that drains the urine out. So she poured it out, and she was saying that, “This is strange. Your kidney produced so much urine, if I would have emptied the rest of the bag out, it would have overflowed.” So when she was saying that, I'm like, "OK, I'm OK."
Ryan Shazier: Yeah.
Clay Moorefield: So I started asking about him. They were like, well, "Everything seems to be going good, but he's still in surgery." And I'm still under anesthesia, so I'm nodding, wake up, nod out. Every time she came back, I asked about him. Then some family members came down, and I kind of got a little emotional when my family came down because it was like, I was kind of in a vulnerable situation and then half the people are still there supporting you. It kind of touched me a little bit.
Ryan Shazier: Yeah.
Clay Moorefield: So I was just talking to some of my family members that were there about the situation, just telling them that I appreciated them there, because I do a lot of stuff on my own.
Ryan Shazier: Yeah.
Clay Moorefield: Like, I do almost everything in life on my own. Like, I don't really ask people for anything because I don't really trust that a lot of people are going to get it done. Like, I don't ask nobody for nothing.
Ryan Shazier: Right.
Clay Moorefield: I just kind of have like a really independent demeanor. So I kind of needed people at this time, like I'm not going to be able to do a lot of things I'm used to doing and stuff like that. So I was just really appreciative of my family. Then his family came down. Then once he came out, they were saying once they put the kidney in, it started producing urine instantly. I was just like, "This is it!" So I started relaxing a lot more.
Clay Moorefield: Once they finally got up to the rooms, and our family kept going back between our rooms, we were kind of like maybe from here to over to the door distance apart. So the nurse came and said, “Do you want to try to see him?” I said, "I'm gonna get up later." I got up, made it over there, and when I made it back, it felt like I ran a marathon. I was exhausted.
Omar Foster: (Laughs)
Ryan Shazier: Yeah.
Clay Moorefield: Yeah, like it was over. But, I didn't understand the toll that certain things take on your body because it was new to me. But, yeah, everything was good. I mean, I went over there, we joked around a little bit. I was concerned because, um, you know, his wound was a lot bigger than mine.
Ryan Shazier: Yeah.
Clay Moorefield: And he was in more pain than I was in. But everything was good. We had a lot of support, man, a lot of love, so everything was really good.
Ryan Shazier: Uh-huh (affirmative). So how was your relationship with you and your doctor?
Omar Foster: Well, our main doctor was Dr. Tevar. You know, we had a great team of doctors at UPMC, but Dr. Tevar was like real special to us, man. He gave us a special name. He called us the "Gym Bros" because we was a little in shape more. He's way more in shape, but I guess I was a little buff. (laughs)
Ryan Shazier: Yeah.
Omar Foster: And, uh....
Ryan Shazier: (laughs)
Omar Foster: That was his little name for us, man, so he actually became like family to us. Like, we love Dr. Tevar. Because after you have surgery, you have to go back and have checkups every month. They have to make the kidney was working good, and I would see him. And it was always like a big hug, and it was love, man.
Ryan Shazier: Yeah, you know you could trust him.
Omar Foster: Yeah, we got a lot of love for Dr. Tevar, man. He helped us, man. And he made it easy, too. He's like, "This is good -- don't worry, man, everything went A1." Like, you know? He made us feel good.
Ryan Shazier: That's the good thing about having doctors you trust --
Omar Foster: Yeah.
Ryan Shazier: and somebody that you can lean on because I know my doctor, whenever he'd say something, it's almost like, "Hey, I believe what you’re saying. I trust what you’re saying, and I trust you in this situation." So me and him still got a good relationship. I totally understand where you’re coming from on Dr. Tevar.
Ryan Shazier: So how do you think this made you guys closer?
Omar Foster: You know, it's hard to say it brought us closer because we always had that brotherly connection. I definitely feel that I owe my life. He doesn't feel like I owe him anything.
Ryan Shazier: Right.
Omar Foster: But for me, it's like, damn, this guy like helped save my life. So we just have a different bond, and I actually have piece of him inside of me.
Ryan Shazier: Right.
Omar Foster: So it's just forever, man, you know. There could never be a misunderstanding, a falling-out. We might argue --
Ryan Shazier: Yeah.
Omar Foster: You know, we’re brothers. He's my real brother.
Clay Moorefield: A lot of people look at it bigger than I actually looked at it. Like, I understood what was going on, but his family treats me like I'm son, nephew, whatever other male figure that you can have in your family. Mom and Dad always called me son. Like, I'm really close with them. But his family members that never met me from out of town, they're coming in, they're like, “Hey, grandson, son, nephew.” Like, they embraced me like that, and that's kind of new. All of his family is like, "You're part of the family now."
Ryan Shazier: Right.
Clay Moorefield: There's no, if, ands, or we're not just saying it anymore.
Ryan Shazier: Yeah.
Clay Moorefield: Like, you're connected now. So that's really what has changed for me more with his family. With me and him, we just talk a lot. A lot more.
Ryan Shazier: Yeah.
Clay Moorefield: Um, I check on him. I don't think it really made me and his relationship any closer, but some of the stuff he's saying now, like he said we don't talk about me saving his life. Like --
Ryan Shazier: Yeah.
Clay Moorefield: I never
Ryan Shazier: Yeah.
Clay Moorefield: Look, I was just like, “I’m just trying to give my brother a better quality of life. I see what struggles is going on now.
Clay Moorefield: And then, the only time it got emotional for me and I almost cried, his son called me. His son's really laid-back, nonchalant. But he called me one night and was like, "Hey Unc, I never got a chance to tell you, but man, I really appreciate what you're doing for my dad." Messed me up. Oh, man. Like, I really have to sit back and like gather myself, and I was at home by myself. And then, my son calls him uncle, my daughter calls him uncle. And then them seeing the severity of it, I think anybody would do that for someone they are this close with. Like, that's how I think. It was like protocol.
Ryan Shazier: Yeah. It's scary.
Clay Moorefield: OK, when somebody needs it, I'm up the line. I'm next. It's my turn. Let's go.
Ryan Shazier: Yeah.
Clay Moorefield: Like, that's what it was for me. So when people talk about it, I don't understand why it would be a second guess for somebody --
Ryan Shazier: Right.
Clay Moorefield: if you claim that you love somebody and you're able to do it for somebody. But when the doctor said I actually saved his life, I started feeling a little different at that time.
Ryan Shazier: So we’re in Club Elevation. Obviously you guys like to work out.
Clay Moorefield: Yeah, so we've worked out prior to the surgery. The difference is the way I train and the way he trains. He's a really strong guy. I’m more of overall fitness, well-being, strength, explosiveness, endurance, cardio, muscular endurance. So I'm more in the overall fitness, so when we were trying to combine it all, it was kind of awkward at times because when it's time to train how I want to train, he don't kind of like that type of training.
Ryan Shazier: Yeah, right.
Clay Moorefield: You know we want to throw the weights. I'm like, all right, we could throw the weights around, that's your strong point, but we’ve got to be overall well. And me being in excellent shape was part of the reason how I was actually able to be the person that gave him the kidney. And also able to recover kind of fast. Like recover really fast according to what the doctors were saying.
Clay Moorefield: So a lot of it just came from having fitness as a way of life. Once I started trying to implement that in my life and started trying to implement also with his life, everything just started coming along a lot better. We probably work out, what, about four to five times a week together?
Omar Foster: Mm-hmm (affirmative)
Clay Moorefield: We come here, yeah, early in the morning, about 8 in the morning.
Ryan Shazier: It's crazy how everything is so relatable. Uh, my doctor had told me that if I didn't stay on a really healthy diet and stay in a healthy lifestyle, that, um, my injury could have been a lot worse if wasn't eating healthy and working out as much as I was. So just the fact that I'm eating healthier and just working out is allowing me to recover a little bit better and have less inflammation in my body. So if I have more inflammation in my body, my injury could have been worse. Just staying healthy and living the right lifestyle, I think, is amazing, and just to see that you're doing it and able to help him out, man, is just awesome.
Clay Moorefield: And what's kind of funny is, like, I don't know if it's actually the factor, but since the surgery, he actually does a lot better with my style of training. (laughs)
Ryan Shazier: All right.
Clay Moorefield: So I joke at him a lot, you know.
Ryan Shazier: Probably 'cause of your kidney, man. (laughs)
Clay Moorefield: Yeah, so I tell him that you’ve got a Ferrari engine inside you now. (laughs)
Clay Moorefield: So he's like, “Yeah, well, I'm strong." I'm like, yeah, but you’ve got the Ferrari kidney. That's why you're able to run a lot faster, do a lot more, your endurance is better. I was like, you know the Ferrari engine is dragging around a Mack Truck.
Ryan Shazier: (laughs)
Clay Moorefield: So we joke around about that a lot. But yeah, it's really been good. Starting over was the hardest because I was out for six to eight weeks, and he was out for almost three months.
Omar Foster: Yeah.
Clay Moorefield: From March to -- we couldn't do nothing till July.
Omar Foster: Till July.
Clay Moorefield: Till around July, so we set a date we were going to start. I wrote the plan up. I sent the plan over to him. I said this is how we're going start, we're going to start at this base level at the beginning because we're starting over. But it's hard because I believe I'm an elite-level athlete.
Ryan Shazier: Yeah.
Clay Moorefield: He believed the same thing. So actually getting there and have to struggle with doing planks --
Ryan Shazier: Yeah.
Clay Moorefield: like, all the beginning, the beginner stuff was difficult.
Ryan Shazier: Yeah.
Omar Foster: Yes.
Clay Moorefield: But it was just like the will and the drive. I'm like, “I'm not going to settle for being where I'm at at this point when I was up here.” The surgery brought me down, but I'm getting back up there as soon as possible.
Clay Moorefield: So we were working about what, five days a week? Maybe like Monday through Thursday, maybe a Saturday sometimes. We would work in the gym and do all the basic stuff, and then the hardest part was being patient. Because we're starting back out lifting 50-pound dumbbells, we're like -- we're used to pushing 100s, and 110, and 120-pound dumbbells around. We're starting like literally over. He was a little more concerned about it because I was like, man, give me the 80s. (laughs)
Ryan Shazier: (laughs)
Clay Moorefield: He had to hand them to me, but the only thing was I'd have to drop them to the side because we couldn't get up because the core strength wasn't there. So that was the main thing, just getting the core strength back up, you know what I mean, and the difficulty of the beginning movement. But we stayed consistent, man, and probably about a month and a half we were pretty much almost back to rare form.
Ryan Shazier: That's what people really don't understand about rehab. The first stages, being patient, just trying to bounce back, those first few weeks are probably tougher than almost all the workouts you’ve done before, man.
Omar Foster: Absolutely.
Ryan Shazier: You get just as tired. I remember when I took my first few steps, man, it felt like I ran an ultramarathon, man.
Clay Moorefield: (laughs)
Ryan Shazier: And just using so much energy to focus on a little area. It's a big scheme of things trying to start back over from scratch, so it’s amazing what y'all are doing, man.
Clay Moorefield: Thanks.
Omar Foster: Appreciate it, thank you.
Ryan Shazier: Yeah, no problem.
Ryan Shazier: What was it like being a living donor?
Clay Moorefield: It's kind of hard to explain because it just still feels normal.
Ryan Shazier: Yeah.
Clay Moorefield: I don't really look at it as really nothing for publicity or nothing like that. Like I didn't talk on social media about it at all.
Ryan Shazier: Yeah.
Clay Moorefield: I just told my clients that I trained that I was going out and why I was actually going out. So it's just really been really normal for me. But once I talked to people and people actually found out and people started saying how amazing it is to them, it kind of makes me feel a little different about it. But it's just really normal for me.
Ryan Shazier: So what was the process like finding out about being a living donor, like trying to find out the information, like what you were going to go through? What was that process like?
Clay Moorefield: Well, a lot of it was looking at a lot of things on the internet. I mean Googling, going through a lot of people's bios and stuff. I would look up, and certain names would come up and I would read things about them. And plus, talking to Dr. Tevar about certain things prior to it happening. And when they were saying basically keep doing what you're doing, I was like, well that's pretty easy. Like, that's my life.
Ryan Shazier: Yeah.
Clay Moorefield: So, the research process was once I found out there weren't really high risks for me, as long as I continue to eat healthy and do my exercise and stuff like that I would be OK, I was pretty good with it.
Ryan Shazier: So did you have to do anything different for yourself when it came to working out?
Clay Moorefield: Not really. Just start slow. And you know, being a trainer I'm always talking about gradual progressions with my clients, you know, coming in and finding out where they are at and starting them at a level for what their abilities are at that time. So the difference was finding where my abilities were once they diminished. You know, like, I really think I'm like a really elite-level type of fitness person. So actually having to start over, it was kind of difficult. But understanding the whole process, I was like, OK. But I had a desire to get back to where I left off at, so, like, that was one of the motivating forces that I actually go through the basics and understand that I need to get to where I'm going without furthering the injury.
Ryan Shazier: The big question: Are you making sure Omar is taking care of your kidney?
Clay Moorefield: (laughs) That's a huge question, and um, yes. We talk a lot. I check on him and make sure he's eating how he's supposed to eat and stuff like that. He doesn't drink or nothing like that. So he's big on, he'll feel like he'll fail me if he did things that was detrimental for the kidney's, um, well-being. So I check on him all the time. You know, like, we work out together. So I know what he's doing here, drinking water, and cranberry juice, and apple juice. And like a lot of things that I recommended him to do, he's actually doing it. Plus, I'm really close with his wife. She's like my sister, so, you know, I check on her. I'm kind of like spying on him a little bit at times.
Ryan Shazier: Yeah.
Clay Moorefield: So yeah, I'm making sure everything is good.
Ryan Shazier: I feel like the accountability part is huge when it comes to recovery. Especially when you have somebody close to you. You're close to each other. You know, I know he's checking on you even though you don't feel like your surgery was as difficult or as strenuous as his as you check on him. And I know that accountability aspect is huge for me, especially with my trainer and my family. And I know you feel the same way when it comes to his.
Clay Moorefield: Right, definitely. I have some sisters that are nurses. So they’re like constantly just texting me or calling me just to make sure. Up till now, that's, um, a year and a half or so later, they're still checking up on me and stuff like that. Dr. Tevar extended his email and stuff like that to where if I need a question or anything, I could email him and ask him questions I might have. A lot of it is just me, taking self-accountability, you know? I look in the mirror every day and I'm reminded I have a little teeny wound down here. So it’ll be kind of funny sometimes, Omar will talk about he had 20-something staples. I'm like, I had a little teeny wound with glue on it, one stitch at the end of it and he had 20 staples. So we joke around and stuff about that, but I see it every day. So it just reminds me of, you know, the actual process that actually happened and actually trying to help somebody that I care for very deeply and genuinely, that I actually tried to help the person's way of life.
Ryan Shazier: Was there any times that you felt frustrated with yourself where he was dealing with the world? Because I know even though you weren't the one dealing with a kidney, but you gave yours to him, did you ever feel frustrated because of what he was going through?
Clay Moorefield: Yeah. I joke around when I talk to him about a lot of my issues, but when I'm talking to someone else, I don't like to tell him certain stories about me because if I'm upset, he gets more upset than me because of how much he cares for me.
Ryan Shazier: Yeah.
Clay Moorefield: But like, seeing him frustrated and stuff like that and knowing where he once was and where he was struggling at. Also talking to him through it, just being like, "Yo, just be patient -- everything is going to get better." Because I was able to do a lot of things faster than he was able to do things. He wasn't able to drive for a period of time. I was able to drive like a few weeks after it actually happened. And stuff like that, that were just little things, that I was able to like speed up that he might have wanted to do. So it's like seeing me drive to his house that's a half an hour from where I live at. "Bro, are you supposed to be driving?" I'm like, "Man, I'm good. I talked to the doctor, everything is cool.” But yeah, seeing those little frustrations with him, it would kind of frustrate me.
Ryan Shazier: What was some of the biggest obstacles you had to overcome through the whole process? How did your kids and your wife, how did they take all this?
Omar Foster: Uh, they took it well. My kids were just like, everybody was really good. My wife was just, you know, phenomenal. She did everything for me, made my medicines, made all my -- you know, put everything together, made sure all my meals were prepared right. Um, my kids just wanted to lay up under their dad. Uh, my son's a little older, so he was just checking on me: "Pops, you OK?" "Yeah, I'm good." "All right." You know?
Ryan Shazier: Yeah.
Omar Foster: So it was great. Everybody was very supportive.
Ryan Shazier: What are some things that you would advise people if they went through the same process that you went through?
Omar Foster: Just take one day at a time. Um, be grateful. Do everything their doctor asks them to do. Rest! Get plenty of rest. Get some, you know, movies going, just enjoy the process of getting back healthy.
Ryan Shazier: You had Clay as an amazing donor, but before that did you have any doubts about finding a donor?
Omar Foster: Um, yeah, I did. I had doubts because I really didn't tell too many people that I needed a kidney. I was a little nervous, but Clay kind of just took that out of my hands. Before I knew that Clay was going to donate the kidney, I guess I had some worries. Who is going to do this for me, or am I going to find a live donor? I just was really unsure if I was going to be able to get a kidney at all.
Ryan Shazier: So I know there's a few times when me dealing with this injury that I was extremely frustrated with myself, with the world, you know, even my family even though they doing everything right. Did you ever feel like you had those moments?
Omar Foster: Yeah, I had a few of those moments when I couldn't get up and do what I wanted to do. I'm a very independent guy, you know, even though I have a big family support, so it was a little frustrating.
Ryan Shazier: On a scale of one to 10, what would you rate Clay's kidney?
Omar Foster: A 10.9! (laughs) Clay's kidney has been amazing for me. I feel great. His kidney actually let me realize that I was sick. For a long time I was kind of in denial and I didn't think that I was sick because I was still doing some of the things that I was used to doing, but I was kind of struggling through it. But being now that I have Clay's kidney in me I just feel so much healthier and things are so much easier. I'm back in the gym, running, working out, coaching basketball, doing all those kind of things.
Ryan Shazier: It's good to hear, man. That's what it feels like when you’ve got a Ferrari engine, right?
Omar Foster: Absolutely. (laughs)"
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string(34821) "Brandy was thrilled to be pregnant with her third child, and first girl. But late in her third trimester, the pregnancy took a scary twist: She was diagnosed with a rare, life-threatening heart failure. A transplant saved her life, and the love of her family motivated her through her recovery. Find out more about Brandy’s story in the fourth episode of “Ryan Shazier’s 50 Phenoms.”
Listen to more episodes of Ryan Shazier's 50 Phenoms Podcast
Read The Full Podcast Transcript
Announcer: Phenomenal journey, phenomenal story. Next, on “Ryan Shazier’s 50 Phenoms” … from heart failure to happy family.
Brandy Sweeney: They came into the room and my husband and I were sitting there, and they said, "You're in congestive heart failure."
Announcer: In this episode of “50 Phenoms,” Ryan Shazier talks with Brandy Sweeney. When Brandy was eight months pregnant, she was diagnosed with a rare heart condition that threatened her life.
Brandy Sweeney: They told me the diagnosis was peripartum cardiomyopathy, and that is heart failure due to pregnancy. I didn't even know that was a thing.
Ryan Shazier: A lot of times when you have a really positive mindset and understand that, hey, something great can come out of this, something better can come out of this, it normally does.
Announcer: She had to leave her whole world behind in West Virginia to undergo a life-saving heart transplant at UPMC in Pittsburgh.
Ryan Shazier: So, Brandy, when I first heard about your story, I thought it was truly amazing what you went through. So can you please tell me a little bit about your family?
Brandy Sweeney: Prior to all this happening, I had two young boys. They were at the time, only 3 (years old) and 18 months. We were pretty typical. It was my husband, two boys. We’re very active in our community. Just everyday life, going with the punches, and then finally we were like, “Woo hoo, I'm pregnant with a girl!” So I was really excited about that.
Ryan Shazier: Yeah, so I know you were just really excited about having a daughter. My wife told me that people go through different symptoms when they have a boy or a girl. So were you noticing anything different?
Brandy Sweeney: Well, I'll tell you, I was one of those people: I always loved being pregnant. I just think, I don't know, I always felt good, people were so nice to you and complimentary. But with my daughter, it did feel different from the beginning. And I thought, well, maybe it's because it's a girl and they always say girls suck the beauty out of you. I thought maybe that's what it was. Later I found out that wasn't the case. For several months, I would lay awake at night, and I wouldn't be able to sleep because I couldn't lay flat and I would cough. Oh my gosh, the cough was terrible. My husband said it just sounded like it was coming from my toes and I was just constantly coughing. The doctors had said that it was allergies, and I've never been a person that was sick. Never. Tylenol was the most I'd even take.
Brandy Sweeney: There was one day I finally woke up, and I was just so completely swollen and I'm like, “Something is not right at all.” It just so happened it was on my oldest son's fourth birthday. I said, "Well, we'll have to go to the doctor and find out what the heck's going on." And I said, "But we have to go to church first because he has to put it in his birthday pennies."
Ryan Shazier: Yeah.
Brandy Sweeney: And then we had to have his birthday party and all that good stuff. So after that, I went to the hospital to find out what was going on. (I expected) something simple -- I was just retaining too much fluid -- but it ended up it was a lot worse than that.
Ryan Shazier: When you went to the emergency room, what did you find out?
Brandy Sweeney: Well, I went straight up to the OB. The first thing I did was go to the emergency room in my local area, and we kind of were waiting a while and I wanted to get home to my kids. So I said, "OK, let's just go to the hospital where I would deliver her anyway." So once I got there I went straight to OB and they ran some blood work and all that good stuff. Then they came into the room and my husband and I were sitting there, and they said, "You're in congestive heart failure." And then they kind of like walked out.
Brandy Sweeney: I looked at my husband, and I just started bawling because I'm like, "What the heck? I am just pregnant. I am not in congestive heart failure and dying." He made them come back and like talk to us, and it was kind of scary because here I was not having a clue. I'm thinking I'm about to have a baby, and you're telling me that I have a heart problem and I could die. It was a scary moment.
Ryan Shazier: Yeah, I know. It's scary. A lot of times when you first get some news, they would just come in there, give it to you, and run out.
Brandy Sweeney: Yeah.
Ryan Shazier: You’re like, “Whoa, I need a little more information.” This is a big moment in my life. After you found out about that, what was the process after that?
Brandy Sweeney: Well, they finally told me the diagnosis was peripartum cardiomyopathy, and that is heart failure due to pregnancy. I didn't even know that was a thing and most people don't even realize, but it is a rare condition. After that, they kind of started making a plan. And I live in a smaller area, so they don't see a lot of this.
Brandy Sweeney: One of the nurses that took care of me said I was only the second person she had ever seen, and she had been a nurse for like 30 years. She assured me that I was going to be better than the first case she saw. They made a plan and I went ahead and delivered my daughter. She was just five weeks early, but she was completely healthy. She was about five pounds, so I'm like, “Good thing I didn't go full term. She could've been a horse.”
Brandy Sweeney: They took her to ICU because she was born early, and then I remember I just started shaking uncontrollably. My best friend had even said that she could hear my teeth chattering, and they were like, "We need to take her to ICU." I was up there for a few days. And I had told them, "You're not a heart hospital. If something's not right with me and you guys can't fix me, get the heck out of here. I need to be somewhere where they can." After a few days in ICU, that's when they decided to send me to UPMC.
Ryan Shazier: What was the decision to have your daughter early?
Brandy Sweeney: The doctors decided that she was fine, so they wanted to go ahead and take her and start working on me to make certain that I could live. It was really scary for my husband at the time because before he ever even met me, when he was younger, he used to always have this fear that his wife was going to die in childbirth. This whole situation, he was like kind of freaking out a little bit. I was in good hands.
Ryan Shazier: That's amazing. The hospital, your husband, and everybody just took control of the situation, and you were in the best hands. After your daughter was born, how did you guys handle everything?
Brandy Sweeney: It was a little scary because of the unknown, and where I'm from, there's a lot of babies that are there in the NICU that are born to mothers that have been on drugs. And so that was one of my fears. I was like, if I leave my baby here and go to Pittsburgh, what are people going to think of my baby? She's going to be all alone. That was my husband's hardest decision was, go to Pittsburgh with his dying wife, or stay with our newborn baby?
Brandy Sweeney: He did opt to go with me because we knew that she was in good hands and we had family that would go see my daughter while she was in the NICU and it was a time in my daughter's life that she would never remember again. But she was loved on by the nurses and family members, and he chose to come with me.
Ryan Shazier: I know that was a really hard decision for him.
Brandy Sweeney: Yeah.
Ryan Shazier: So how did you guys end up coming up with that decision? Because I know that is the one decision either way, he couldn't have been wrong.
Brandy Sweeney: Right. I think he just knew that he needed to be there for me because he had decided when we took those vows that was for better or for worse, sickness and health. We definitely went through the sickness part because we'd only been married just five years. We've nailed the sickness part, so now we're ready for the health part. But he made that decision because he loved me and he wanted to stay with me, and he knew that her grandparents would take care of her.
Ryan Shazier: That's truly amazing. So, Brandy, when did you have to find out that you had to use the LVAD?
Brandy Sweeney: I had been at UPMC for several weeks. They were hoping that medicine would help my heart, but after several weeks and all the testing, we realized that it wasn't. So they decided to do the LVAD, left ventricular assist device, and decided that that was the best thing for me at that time. They were hoping after a couple months with the LVAD, that maybe my heart would heal and repair itself.
Brandy Sweeney: It wasn't until about two months later when I had gone back for an appointment and they were checking and they started to turn it down, and I could tell immediately because I started having that difficulty breathing. I just started feeling really bad, like I did when I was in the hospital. They had told me that it's going to be a bridge to transplant.
Ryan Shazier: So you found out that you were going to have to get a transplant after using that LVAD for a while?
Brandy Sweeney: Yeah, and I mean I had the LVAD just two months. There were some people that live years with it. After two months, they were like, OK, transplant. Then, I had seen there had been people that had come into my room while I was in the hospital. Well, you'd never know that they'd had a transplant. I knew that getting a new heart was probably definitely the best option for me and my active lifestyle.
Ryan Shazier: Was this after or before you had received the LVAD?
Brandy Sweeney: OK, so I had the baby, then the LVAD, and then the heart transplant.
Ryan Shazier: All right.
Brandy Sweeney: All that was within a five-month period. I figured if I could go through all of that in five months, heck, I could probably do anything.
Ryan Shazier: Yeah, you’ve got a baby, which is probably one of the hardest things that a human can do. Then you deal with having the LVAD, which is probably crazy because you had a newborn baby, which is less than two months old, and then still taking care of yourself. Then having a heart transplant, which is something that a lot of people probably are scared to even attempt or even try having, but you had to do it for your family.
Brandy Sweeney: Exactly, exactly.
Ryan Shazier: Yeah. I know that was a very crazy moment in your life.
Brandy Sweeney: Yes.
Ryan Shazier: Do you feel throughout that whole process that it was a struggle from the beginning to the surgery?
Brandy Sweeney: No, I wouldn't say it was a struggle, per se. It was just a change in lifestyle. And I'm not going to lie: There were some days when I had the LVAD, I would just break down and cry because I felt like my life was just kind of out of control because I couldn't just go take a shower like a normal person. I couldn't just go wash my hair. There was one day, I remember, I was getting in my closet to find shoes, and I just broke down and started crying because it was so difficult for me to get into spaces because I had the LVAD. The wire couldn't be pulled, and I just felt like my life was a little bit out of control -- and I'm a control freak.
Ryan Shazier: Yeah.
Brandy Sweeney: There were times it was like, this is crazy, but it was keeping me alive.
Ryan Shazier: Yeah, you definitely have a test.
Brandy Sweeney: Yeah. Oh, absolutely.
Ryan Shazier: You found out that you had to have a new heart. How did that affect you?
Brandy Sweeney: When I got the call for the heart, I was very calm. We were eating lunch together, and I got the phone call and it was a 412 area code. So I knew immediately that that was the call for the heart. My husband just said I was eerily calm. He went and paid for everything, and he'd figured that's what it was. They said, "Hey, we've got a heart if you're available." Of course I was available -- I wasn't going to go shop or anything.
Brandy Sweeney: I had prepared all this time getting ready to make certain I was ready to go when I got that call. Then I went to the daycare where my children were at the time, and at that time they were 4, 23 months, and 5 months old. That's when I had to go in and tell them goodbye. And talk about needing major strength for me to say goodbye because I didn't know what was going to happen.
Brandy Sweeney: I didn't know if I would even make it through the surgery. It was the unknown to me. My daughter, she was 5 months old, she had no idea what was going on. She just kind of like, I gave her a kiss goodbye. Then my 23-month-old, he was just mad because I woke him up from the nap. But it was my 4-year-old, he's the one that knew exactly what was going on. I just hugged him and kissed him, and I just said goodbye. Then we went to the helicopter and we came to UPMC, and the whole thing started.
Ryan Shazier: All this happened in a matter of hours? So the moment you got the call, you went straight to the daycare and had to leave immediately?
Brandy Sweeney: Yes, yes. Yeah, because I live about three-and-a-half, four hours from the hospital, and you only have a certain timeframe to get here. We had already made plans to have a helicopter take me in case. Because before, I'd had what we called my dry run. I'd had a call for a heart the week before, and it was a no-go, but we ended up having to drive because of the icing.
Ryan Shazier: Yeah.
Brandy Sweeney: That's when I discovered my husband could be a NASCAR driver. He got here in no time, and we actually got pulled over once. So yeah, everything kind of moved rather quickly.
Ryan Shazier: OK.
Brandy Sweeney: Yeah.
Ryan Shazier: How long would you say you had to wait for the heart?
Brandy Sweeney: Oh, I was only on the list for 38 days.
Ryan Shazier: Oh, yeah.
Brandy Sweeney: Yeah. It wasn't very long. I was very blessed.
Ryan Shazier: Yeah.
Brandy Sweeney: A lot of people have to wait a lot longer, but I was fortunate.
Ryan Shazier: When you got to UPMC, how did the procedure go?
Brandy Sweeney: Everything was absolutely wonderful. My husband spoke to the doctors immediately. The one thing he hated was the surgery actually started at like 11:00 at night. At midnight, everything rolls over and my number on the screen wasn't up there. So he was kind of freaked out a little. He was like, "Oh my gosh, what's going on?" So he had to keep going up and actually talking to them and finding out.
Brandy Sweeney: But when everything was said and done, he said that the doctor said that everything was wonderful. They hardly had to do anything to get my heart to start. It kind of started on its own. The pacer wires that they put in there, he said that I really didn't even need them. They just had them up there because that's just what you do, but it was a very strong heartbeat.
Brandy Sweeney: When I woke up, oh my goodness. I could totally feel that heart. I mean, it was so strong. And even to this day, I'll just sit there and I'll feel the pulses in my legs and all this stuff because it's just so strong compared to what I was living with.
Ryan Shazier: So what was life like before the procedure? What did you have to deal with? What was helping you pump your heart?
Brandy Sweeney: OK, so I had an LVAD put in, which is a left ventricular assist device, and that was just a pump that went into my heart. Then a drive line came out, and it was connected to a controller and two batteries. Those batteries last about six to eight hours, depending on how active I was. Of course, with my heart only working at 8 percent, I wasn't major active. I wasn't running anywhere.
Ryan Shazier: Yeah, yeah.
Brandy Sweeney: It's attached to you 24/7. It was like a seven-pound bag I carried around with me all the time. I couldn't get it wet. I had to be very careful because if they would tug on that wire, it could potentially like come out with a little bit of my skin. It was not the best lifestyle.
Ryan Shazier: Yeah.
Brandy Sweeney: But it was what I was given.
Ryan Shazier: Right.
Brandy Sweeney: And I was living until the new heart came.
Ryan Shazier: Wow, that's amazing. I know, especially with kids, sometimes I’ll be getting IVs and things, and my 10-month-old, whenever they see a wire, they're quick to pull it. I know it was a little difficult for you at first, but that's amazing that you were able to fight through it. So how long did your procedure take?
Brandy Sweeney: The procedure itself, I honestly don't even know. I don't know. My husband would know that because he's the one that sat through it, but I think it was anywhere like eight hours, around eight hours.
Ryan Shazier: Wow, that's amazing. I think mine was around eight to 10 hours. With you being from West Virginia, how did you hear about UPMC?
Brandy Sweeney: Well, when I was in the hospital in my local area, I had been in the ICU after I'd had my daughter, and they knew since it was a heart condition that that was not the hospital I needed to be at. The ICU doctor had actually given me two choices, and at first, I thought I was going to go to the one closer to me. And then finally, he was like, "Nope, not even an option anymore. You're going to UPMC."
Ryan Shazier: Wow, that's amazing.
Brandy Sweeney: Then once I got there, they kept saying, “You're in the right place, you're in the right place.” I said, "Let me make that decision once this is all said and done." But in the end, I definitely was in the right place.
Ryan Shazier: You know, I got hurt in Cincinnati. What’s crazy with me and your story is I actually got flown a helicopter from Cincinnati to Pittsburgh.
Brandy Sweeney: Oh, OK.
Ryan Shazier: Yeah. I think you said it's about three hours for you to get here. Cincinnati might be a little longer. Probably like five hours, but being on the helicopter, it felt like forever.
Brandy Sweeney: Yeah. Yes, it did.
Ryan Shazier: Especially in a critical moment like that. I know that it just was an amazing time just to be able to actually get here and be here. Then they also gave me the options when I got here, if I wanted to do treatment here, if I wanted to go other places, be closer to home in Florida. I couldn't complain about UPMC at all. I'm completely grateful that I actually came here.
Brandy Sweeney: Oh, absolutely.
Ryan Shazier: What was your rehab like?
Brandy Sweeney: I was honestly pretty fortunate. I did have to stay in town. They had said I was going to have to stay here for like two or three weeks. And I was here for maybe a week, a little less than a week. They finally said, "You know what? Go ahead and go home." I'm like, "OK." I didn't get to see my kids for a while, so I was totally fine with that. I never had to have the cardiac rehab or anything like that, and they said, "It's because you have three kids." They absolutely were my rehab.
Ryan Shazier: OK.
Brandy Sweeney: They did not care that mommy had a new heart. They were like, "Hey, I'm thirsty, I'm hungry. Mommy, I need this. I need that." So I did have home health come. I had physical therapy at home, and I was released from physical therapy earlier than I was supposed to because I was doing so well.
Ryan Shazier: OK.
Brandy Sweeney: So, and it was just a matter, I mean, it wasn't like they weren't expecting me to run marathons.
Ryan Shazier: Right.
Brandy Sweeney: But walking several blocks distance, they were happy with that.
Ryan Shazier: How did your husband and your kids act in this whole procedure and this whole process with you being out of town for so long and you having surgery and things like that?
Brandy Sweeney: Well, my husband was by my side the entire time. He was my rock star. He was there for everything, and he never showed emotion. He was there for me the whole time. We would pray together. We cried a little bit together, but we knew that God had it. It wasn't like it was too bad, but he would go off when I was in bed. Or he'd say he had to go take a shower, and then that's when he would break down. But he was a rock star when he was with me. Now, my kids, at the time we would Skype.
Ryan Shazier: Yeah.
Brandy Sweeney: They missed mommy, and they came up here a couple of times to see me, and they'd crawl in bed with me and all that good stuff. When I got home, I can vividly remember, no one had moved their cars in front of my house. So I had to walk almost a block to get to my house anyway. I'm like, “Thanks, guys.” They're like, "Oh yeah, no problem."
Brandy Sweeney: I walk up the steps, and my middle child was looking out the window. He had just turned 2 years old the day I got out of the hospital. I remember the squeal when he saw me. I mean, it was just pure delight, and he's like, "Mommy, mommy, mommy." I opened the door and they were just all over me.
Ryan Shazier: That's amazing. Kids can always bring joy, especially in a time of trial. I know you were so happy to be back in, especially since it was his second birthday. Just to be there for that also.
Brandy Sweeney: Yes, yeah.
Ryan Shazier: My wife and my family were so strong for me. Because I was in the hospital, I wish it was two weeks, but it was more like two months. I was in the hospital for that time, and every time I was with everybody, everybody would seem happy. I tried to stay as positive as possible. But a lot of times everybody would tell me my dad and my wife, when they weren't around me, that's when they would break down and cry. My dad told me he almost cried 10 times a day, and that's like one of the strongest people I know.
Brandy Sweeney: Right.
Ryan Shazier: I was like, I’ve never seen him cry once, like in my whole life almost. Just for him to be able to be that strong for me and just to see that your husband was that strong for you just shows how important family is.
Brandy Sweeney: Oh, absolutely. If it weren't for them, I would've not been able to make it.
Ryan Shazier: How did you like the doctors?
Brandy Sweeney: They were absolutely amazing. When I first got to the hospital, I felt like I saw tons of people. I joked that I needed business cards with their pictures so I could remember who was who. There was one point the transplant team came in, and I just laughed because I'm like, "Thanks for coming to visit me. I'm not going to need you." But it ended up I had the surgeon that put my LVAD in. He was absolutely amazing.
Brandy Sweeney: When I got the call, he's the one that said no to that heart because he said it wasn't perfect for me. And he said he loved me too much and knew that I had my three children that he was thinking about, and that's why he said no because he wanted the perfect one.
Brandy Sweeney: Then it was a different doctor for the real heart, and I was freaking out. I'm like, "Oh my gosh, it's not Dr. (Robert) Kormos." They said, "It's OK. It's OK. Dr Luigi (Lagazzi Garros), he's nice." I said, "I don't care about nice. I want someone that's good." Oh, he's good, he's good. Afterward I met him, and he was absolutely wonderful. I actually just like became friends with one of my doctors on Facebook. Just everyone -- the doctors, the nurses, everyone -- was so wonderful, and I felt like I wasn't just like a number there.
Ryan Shazier: Right.
Brandy Sweeney: I was truly someone that they cared about.
Ryan Shazier: Did you have to visit them when you were in West Virginia? Did you have to fly to Pittsburgh or drive to Pittsburgh, or sometimes did you talk over the phone?
Brandy Sweeney: My husband and I would always come up for appointments.
Ryan Shazier: Okay.
Brandy Sweeney: Of course, in the beginning it was like every week, then every other week. Then every month. Now, luckily, I only have to come twice a year, but the one visit mainly is like a social call. All we do is talk, and there's people that will come into my room that haven't met me yet, and they're like, “Oh, I'm so glad to finally meet you, Brandy. I feel like you're so famous. We all talk about you all the time.” They are, they're just like my family.
Ryan Shazier: I can definitely relate. One of my doctors, he's also the team neurologist. Sometimes I go to his office, or sometimes we’ll be on a phone call together and we'll just talk. His son actually has like a project coming up for school, and I might be one of the people that's helping them with his project. I can definitely see how you build a relationship with your doctors. I felt like UPMC has wonderful doctors, but they're also wonderful people. So it's really easy to relate with them. I'm truly glad that we both were able to have UPMC for our rehab and for our treatment.
Brandy Sweeney: When I had the LVAD put in, it was mine and my husband's five-year wedding anniversary.
Ryan Shazier: Really?
Brandy Sweeney: Which I made him wait a couple of days because I didn't want to do it on my anniversary.
Ryan Shazier: Yeah.
Brandy Sweeney: The nurses had actually gone out and gotten us a meal so that we could actually have an anniversary meal together.
Ryan Shazier: That's amazing.
Brandy Sweeney: It was pretty cool.
Ryan Shazier: Yeah, that's amazing. How do you feel life is now that you have your own heart and with your kids and your husband, how is life going now?
Brandy Sweeney: Busy, just as I had expected it would be. Nobody looks at me like, “Oh, poor Brandy. She had a heart transplant.” Which is what I wanted. I didn't want anybody to feel pity for me at all. God gave me this new heart because he knew that I needed it to keep up with my three kids.
Ryan Shazier: Right.
Brandy Sweeney: They are in everything, every sport, just activities, and life is great. I'm rarely home.
Ryan Shazier: So you feel back to normal?
Brandy Sweeney: Oh yes, absolutely. Now I'm a little – OK, I'm a lot heavier than I was then, but that's OK. Eventually I'll lose the weight.
Ryan Shazier: I promise you it's OK. So your kids were your motivation. Were there any other things that motivated you to get better?
Brandy Sweeney: Well, my kids and my husband were definitely a huge factor because I wanted to make certain that my kids grew up with a mom. I knew I had to fight through the entire process to make certain I was here for them. Also my community was motivation. I come from a community that is very loving and giving, and they supported me throughout the entire journey.
Brandy Sweeney: I do a lot of community service work in my hometown. I needed to make certain that I got back to that. I do like a toys for kids program for the needy children in my county. I'm a director of a pageant. I do a lot of things for other people, and I knew that those people also rely on me.
Ryan Shazier: Right.
Brandy Sweeney: So I had to make certain I got well for them as well.
Ryan Shazier: That's crazy because, you know, I love football and I love my team. My family was my biggest motivation, but my love for football and my team was also a huge motivation for me. Just to be back out there with them, just to get better and keep working, that was one of the biggest these motivations to help me get back. So, Brandy, what do you feel was the biggest struggle through this whole process?
Brandy Sweeney: I was very blessed in the fact that I never had rejection. I healed rather quickly. And I would see stories where other people struggled more, but I didn't have that. I think my biggest struggle was just the not being with my children during that time and making certain that I did recover to be there for them. Your way of life changes a little bit.
Ryan Shazier: Right.
Brandy Sweeney: At first I kind of struggled with that part, and even maybe the first time I saw the scar on my chest. I'd worn a shirt that was in a V, and I'm like, “Oh my gosh, I look so different.” Now I don't even think a thing about it. I know that just seems vain like in the grand scheme. It really doesn't mean anything. You can't eat at buffets, or when you're at church or at a wedding and they have a buffet style, I always either go first or my husband goes to the back and gets me extra food. Just the way of life was a little bit of an adjustment, but I wouldn't say necessarily a struggle.
Ryan Shazier: Even at the beginning when you first found out, you didn't feel like it was a struggle for you?
Brandy Sweeney: To be completely honest, I really didn’t from the beginning. I just put it all in God's hands, and he gave me the strength to do what I needed to do. So I didn't feel like it was a struggle.
Ryan Shazier: I've been doing the same thing.
Brandy Sweeney: Yeah.
Ryan Shazier: So I can completely understand where you're coming from.
Brandy Sweeney: Yeah.
Ryan Shazier: If you had some advice for somebody that had to deal with a heart transplant or going through what you have gone through, what would be some advice you'd give them?
Brandy Sweeney: I would absolutely say to stay positive. I think your attitude has a lot to do with the entire situation. I think it has everything to do with how quickly you recover. My faith (was) a big part in it all. I think that people need to rely on their families and just have a good support system. And just know that everything's going to get better. Things change, your way of life changes a little bit, but all in all, it's all worth it.
Ryan Shazier: Right. I feel like one of the biggest things for me was just the positivity. I feel like people take that for granted. They don't appreciate that enough. A lot of times people, when a situation happens to them, they get really negative about it. They jump to conclusions really fast, and they always think worst-case scenario.
Ryan Shazier: I feel like a lot of times when you have a really positive mindset and understand that, hey, something great can come out of this, something better can come out of this, it normally does. It might not be the outcome that you wanted at first.
Brandy Sweeney: Right.
Ryan Shazier: But something positive definitely can come out of it. I feel like that's truly my mindset when it comes to rehab, when it comes to struggle, when it comes to any challenge. You have to have a really positive mindset. I think that is what helped both of us get through what we've gone through.
Brandy Sweeney: Absolutely. I even had my nurses and stuff, they all call me and they're like, “You guys are so positive.” We decided from the beginning we could go sit over there in the corner and cry about it, but that wasn't going to help anything. Or we could just stay positive and know that it was going to help.
Ryan Shazier: I'm Ryan Shazier. I want to thank you for listening to my “50 Phenoms” podcast. On my next podcast, I have local rapper Julian Cann. He's using his music to shed light on sickle cell disease, and his message is winning fans all over the country. Follow along with me by visiting upmc.me/50phenoms. Sign up to receive our emails and texts alerts too."
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string(35881) "Sickle cell disease kept Julian Cann in and out of the hospital as a child and young adult. Then, he realized he could make a change. He improved his diet and exercise and found another outlet for his pain in music. Now an advocate for sickle cell awareness, Julian hasn’t had a hospital stay in 10 years. Learn his story in the fifth episode of “Ryan Shazier’s 50 Phenoms.”
Listen to this episode on Spotify, Google, iHeart Radio, and Apple Podcasts
Listen to more episodes of Ryan Shazier's 50 Phenoms Podcast
Read The Full Podcast Transcript
Announcer: Phenomenal determination, phenomenal story. Next, on “Ryan Shazier's 50 Phenoms”: from painful disease to performing artist.
Julian Cann: 'Cause I want to be outside, living my life, doing music, and working. It just got real old to me at this point. That's the last time I was in the hospital. I changed my life around shortly after that.
Announcer: In this episode of “50 Phenoms,” Ryan Shazier talks with Julian Cann, who has battled sickle cell disease his whole life.
Julian Cann: Just getting more into things that was going to keep me busy as opposed to just keep me stagnant and sitting around and letting the disease catch up to you.
Ryan Shazier: I think that advice is best for anybody dealing with sickle cell, scoliosis, you know, life, diabetes, anything. I feel eating healthy and trying to better yourself, you grow as a person in general.
Announcer: This is the story of how he fought through the pain and found meaning through music.
Ryan Shazier: I knew you grew up with sickle cell from a young age. What was that like?
Julian Cann: I mean, the best word to describe it, if I could use one word, is just challenging. Besides my sickle cell, the situations growing up, and having crises and things like that, I had a pretty good childhood. You know, it was real challenging, realizing that, you know, you can't play football. It really hindered my sports and even kind of hindered my education, so, you know, it was just a lot of different challenges that I had to, you know, overcome.
Ryan Shazier: Like what are some of things you had to overcome besides sports, and how did it affect school?
Julian Cann: Yeah, well, it affected school because, you know, when it gets cold, you tend to get more flare-ups with sickle cell. I would go to the hospital for weeks. Just imagine in high school, I was in a magnet program. You know, just imagine you missing a week or two of school when if you miss one day, you're already kind of behind. So that was some of the challenges, as well as social challenges as well. Certain friends, you know, you can't kick it with them like everybody else can. And certain things you miss out on.
Ryan Shazier: I don't like to say I relate with people, but I kind of understand where you're coming from. At a young age, I had gotten diagnosed with alopecia.
Julian Cann: Mm-hmm (affirmative).
Ryan Shazier: I had alopecia at 5 years old. I was pretty much the only bald kid walking around. And, you know, you don't got no bald kids in elementary, high, or middle school, you know, so I always felt like I was outside looking in. You know, it's amazing that you've been able to fight through all this because I know that it was probably tough for you.
Julian Cann: Definitely it was tough. I was just, you know, built to win, I was built to last, ‘cause I've been through a lot, man. In and out of the hospital, different relationships gone bad, because people ain't being there for you. But I feel like, you know, there is always light at the end of the tunnel. It could always be worse. I've been in the hospital with people that had cancer, people that had leukemia, people that, you know, made me a little more worldly and understand that everybody goes through it. It's just not me. You know what I'm saying? Because you can feel like it's only you sometimes.
Ryan Shazier: Yeah, man, that's the biggest thing. Like, a lot of people, they feel that the situation they go through, it’s just only them dealing with it.
Julian Cann: Right.
Ryan Shazier: You’ve just got to always realize, man, somebody’s got it worse than you.
Julian Cann: That's a fact.
Ryan Shazier: You’ve just got to keep pushing and trying to get better and then just lean on the people that's close to you.
Julian Cann: I agree with that.
Ryan Shazier: So, like, who do you feel is like in your corner when you're dealing with all this?
Julian Cann: You know, my mom, my dad, you know, they did the best they could do. You know, they had other children as well, and they had work. Definitely, it was a lot of, you know, lonely nights in the hospital. I had pretty much my mom and my dad and my brothers. A lot of my support system really came from friends and different females I might have been in relationships with at the time. My support system, it wasn't the best at all, but I still I had a good mom and a good dad. But I think they were misinformed and uneducated when it came to sickle cell.
Ryan Shazier: Like what was the biggest challenge for you with sickle cell?
Julian Cann: I think the biggest challenge was staying consistent with just basic things in life, bro. I mean, staying consistent with school, staying consistent with work. Because it was always times where I would get sick. It was inevitable. Like, I was a good ballplayer. I played football and basketball, but that kind of got in the way. And there might have been, you know, certain friends, they didn't come to see me in the hospital, so we fell out. So I think it comes full circle to the challenges. Like, it affected every aspect, from parents, from school, to work, money, everything.
Ryan Shazier: Out of all that stuff you dealt with, what do you feel was the lowest point?
Julian Cann: That I went through in my whole life?
Ryan Shazier: Yeah.
Julian Cann: With sickle cell, the lowest point I had went through was in 2013. I kind of had went through a break-up with a woman, and, you know, she moved out, and it was crazy. So, you know, I got into like a pain crisis. But I had different times. I had a time where I was in the hospital for two months when I was in high school. That probably was up there too. I had pneumonia and a sickle cell crisis at the same time. And I was out of school for two months. So imagine that.
Ryan Shazier: Yeah.
Julian Cann: Being in 10th grade, you can't wait till the beginning of the school year, when you want to go, and you have your fresh clothes and see the new girls. I was in the hospital. So those two times, definitely.
Ryan Shazier: I know one thing that you probably dealt with that kind of frustrated you is like since you were always in the hospital or felt like you were sick, it's like people kind of looked at you a little different.
Julian Cann: I never had the story of people teasing me about my sickle cell, bro. Like I know a lot of people that got teased. And you even know the Tupac thing growing up, sickle cell, you know what I mean, coming at Prodigy. But I had a lot of people that showed a lot of love. ‘Cause I think people knew I wasn't different other than that. Like I played football, I got on all the girls, I danced at all the parties. So it wasn't like I was, you know, little Jules that was just, you know, always at home on video games or always in the hospital. Only times I was different was when I was in the hospital.
Ryan Shazier: Yeah.
Julian Cann: If I'm home, I'm going to school, I'm hanging out with friends. So I never really got treated differently like that. But then that could be a bad thing because, you know, friends want to pass you the weed, too, and pass you the liquor, too, not knowing that might not be good for me. You know what I'm saying?
Ryan Shazier: Yeah. The reason I say that is because I know growing up, I had alopecia. So as a little kid and even in high school I'm walking around with a bald head. You don't ever see other kids with that. So when people see bald heads, they immediately think, “Oh, he has cancer,” or, “Oh, man, he’s sick.” I want to know if you had to deal with something like that because I know me myself, I kind of dealt with that, you know. But that's amazing that, you know, you had people in your corner like that.
Julian Cann: Yeah. To be honest, I think I got more picked on for just being the dark-skinned, skinny kid with glasses. I never got teased for having sickle cell. And that's why, you know, I hear different stories, and they're always different. Some people didn't want to go to school because they were being bullied because of it. So I'm very appreciative of the people that I had. But I was like kind of a popular kid in our school and area. I had family, so I wasn't a punk, so nobody was really going to mess with me like that. I had brothers and stuff.
Ryan Shazier: Can you explain to me what sickle cell is?
Julian Cann: Yeah. Sickle cell is basically a blood disorder, and what happens is your red blood cells that are circular-shaped, like a donut, they lose oxygen because of your lack of iron, which is anemia. And once they lose oxygen, now they are shaped like a crescent moon. So it's sharp like a sickle, and it’s traveling through your bloodstream and it's causing pain. And, you know, blood travels through your whole body, so you can have pain through anywhere in your body.
Ryan Shazier: So sometimes throughout the day or throughout your life, you just feel random pain?
Julian Cann: That's how sickle cell is. It’s like spontaneous. But, you know, with a better lifestyle and diet, that's the best way you can prevent it.
Ryan Shazier: At what point in your life do you feel you made the change to fix your diet?
Julian Cann: This was around 2013 when I had a bad break-up with a woman. And she moved out of the apartment we lived at. And at that time, you know, when I was with her, I was just eating real unhealthy. You know, burgers and fries, hoagies, pizza. ‘Cause you know when you live with somebody, y'all adapt to each other's lifestyle. Once we broke up and I'm at the crib by myself, I just knew I'm not about to start cooking more crap in here. I'm getting fruits and vegetables. You know, waking up, eating fruit and oatmeal, smoothies, eating a lot more salads and things like that. And I just started seeing the benefits: you know, my skin getting better, I'm feeling better, staying out of the hospital, start getting more motivated to work out. And it just was a domino effect to better health.
Ryan Shazier: Did somebody recommend you to start eating healthier?
Julian Cann: My mom and my stepdad. My, dad too. But, you know, people tell you you need to put down the Doritos and eat an apple. You say, “Mom, I'm hungry, there ain't nothing in there,” ‘cause there ain't no junk in the kitchen. It’s apples and oranges. But I ain't listen to none of that until I got older and started living on my own and reading. And I had a good friend of mine that brought some books through. You know, I've watched different YouTube and just started learning, and I just got inspired. You know, I was sick so long, I just started wanting to be healthy and just reading up on different things.
Ryan Shazier: That's one thing that I started doing the later I started playing. You know, at the beginning of my career I was playing, I was just eating whatever I could. You know, I used to go to eat fast food and go play a game. I used to have burgers right before a game. You know, like, man, I’ve got to start eating healthier. So one of my trainers recommended it, and then my doctors actually said that's one of the reasons I didn't get hurt as bad as I did. Because...
Julian Cann: Oh.
Ryan Shazier: I had a healthier lifestyle. I had much less inflammation in my body. That's probably one thing that helped you out a lot. You eating healthier took a lot of the inflammation from the blood cells that you had. That allowed you to feel better.
Julian Cann: Right, and you hit it on the nose because the thing about sickle cell, the reason why it affects people so much, is because what you eat, obviously, every day, has got to break down through the liver, the spleen, and the kidneys, and the gall bladder. It’s got to go through all these processes. But it’s got to also go through the bloodstream. So if you have polluted blood and you’re eating bull crap, you could turn around the bag of chips and see a million ingredients. Those might not be good for your bloodstream. These are things that are simple but people don't talk about. So it’s just dope talking about this because, you know, people overlook stuff like that. But you’ve got to be mindful of what you put in your body. Alcohol isn't going to help your blood cells.
Ryan Shazier: So you're starting to drink more water now and eat a lot healthier?
Julian Cann: Yeah, that's all I drink is water. Anybody that knows me, like, when you come to my apartment, my friends, they always joke because I don't got nothing for them. You know, I’ve usually got fruits and vegetables, cucumbers, asparagus, all kind of plants, and they’ll be like, “Your refrigerator looks like a garden, bro.” I’ve got an incentive to eat like that, you know what I'm saying? Some people ask me, “How do you drink water all time? You don't you ever drink soda?” Why would I want to do that when I don't like the effects of it? I don't like my skin breaking out. I don't want diabetes. So I stay away from different things. But all of that came from learning and, you know, like you said, getting older and just coming across different information.
Ryan Shazier: And the experience you had to deal with.
Julian Cann: Exactly.
Ryan Shazier: You know, a lot of people didn't experience what you had to deal with. So they can eat that.
Julian Cann: Right.
Ryan Shazier: And they’re still going to have to deal with the consequences down the road.
Julian Cann: Exactly.
Ryan Shazier: I'm not trying to deal with that.
Julian Cann: Right.
Ryan Shazier: When did music get involved in your life?
Julian Cann: I just started listening to music young. Like, you know, I had older cousins, so they were playing music throughout the house: NWA, Eric B. and Rakim. So, you know, even though a lot of those rappers I shouldn't really know about because they were before my time, I still was just intrigued by the lifestyle: the jewelry, and the girls, and cars, and the videos. It was always dope to me. So early on, I was just a fan of it.
Ryan Shazier: So what do feel was your turning point?
Julian Cann: My turning point, I think, was my last time I was in the hospital. It was just a bad experience. I was just missing out on a lot of things. I was an adult now, so I was missing out on money and paying bills. I just knew, like, I’ve got to figure something out. Like, there’s got to be a way I can prevent coming here. ‘Cause I want to be outside, living my life, doing music and working, and getting back. You know, I'm not no kid no more. Like, it just got real old to me at this point, and then that's the last time I was in the hospital. That was 2009. I changed my life around shortly after that.
Ryan Shazier: So what did you do to change your life?
Julian Cann: Just started, you know, really to be honest with you, just started getting more into living a better lifestyle. Just eating better, stop running the streets, stop smoking as much, stop drinking, stop going out clubbing. I started working more and just doing music more. I was doing videos and just getting more into things that were going to keep me busy, as opposed to just keep me stagnant and sitting around and letting the disease catch up to you.
Ryan Shazier: So do you feel like music has been an outlet for you to tell about your pain?
Julian Cann: Most definitely. Because when I first started writing, I'm a real humble dude. I'm not like an attention seeker, like, "Hey everybody, I'm a rapper, listen to me." I didn't come up like that. I came up real humble, just writing, like writing poetry, just writing raps. Little 16 bars, whatever. And, you know, my brothers and friends would come around, they would read my stuff, and they would just go crazy. Like, “You be coming up with some of the craziest lines nobody would think of.” But a lot of that was when I was in the hospital, I used to read and write a lot. Magazines, books, and write a lot. So I guess my vocabulary was different, and when I would rap, I think people felt the pain in my voice. So it kind of made me unique in a way, and it made me realize that, all right, sports can't work really because it's too physical, and that really would probably not be that smart. But I could express myself, and my friends, they kind of pushed me to just start taking music seriously.
Ryan Shazier: So how long have you been rapping?
Julian Cann: Yeah, I’ve been rapping since 13. I remember the first time I rapped, I got booed on the school bus. Funny, it was one of my friends. He was just joking, you know. He knew I was nice, but he was just in the back booing in the back of the bus. So all the kids started booing. But that kind of showed you that, that didn't mean nothing to me. Like, I would still want to pursue it. And once I got to high school and I started battling, and other people want to call you out and it started being more competition, that's when I just started getting into overdrive. Like once I see the girls were peeping over there, they were seeing you spitting, and they were liking what you were doing. And, you know, people coming around like, “Yeah, I want to hear that dude with the glasses,” I wanted more of that. I wanted more recognition for my writing, and I just started just killing it.
Ryan Shazier: What are some of the things that you do now to help other people that have sickle cell?
Julian Cann: Well, that's a good question. I work for the Children's Sickle Cell Foundation based out of Pittsburgh. And I've been with them for two years. We basically work as, like, community workers, as well as, like, social workers. So we do everything from go to the hospitals, we get people signed up with the program, and then we do events. We do everything from, like, it’s about to be Christmas, we'll do a season of giving event where everybody in our program will get free gifts. And they're dope gifts. And we do events where we have, you know, the kids swimming, and activities. We go out to, Harrisburg, we go get with the politicians, try to get laws changed, try to get more grant money to do more. So it’s just like, basically, I'm an advocate for sickle cell. So now I'm kind of getting paid to do what I've been doing my whole life. So it’s pretty dope.
Ryan Shazier: Did you have those same type of people help you when were growing up?
Julian Cann: No. Not at all. I wish they would have had things like that when I was growing up. All you pretty much had was your doctors and your support system at home. They had, like, a Sickle Cell Society, but a lot of people kind of complained that they didn't really do nothing. So, you know, I take the initiative to make sure that doesn't happen with the foundation I've been a part of.
Ryan Shazier: I heard you talk about your doctor. Do you and him have a pretty good relationship?
Julian Cann: Yeah, man. It’s funny you said that, man. My doctor, he's like one of the coolest doctors in the world, man. When we chop it up and talk, it’s about life. And when I go to see him, get checked up, he kind of talks about health at the end because I'm usually doing health consistent to where he's like, “All right. I don't even need to see you every three months. I’m going to see you every six. You don't got to get bloodwork every three months or whatever.” So me and him just have a crazy relationship to where, like, we work together on different things. Ain’t nothing ever going to happen that I'm not with, and he knows how stubborn I am when it comes to taking medicines and different things. He checks on my music and battles, and he’s been to different events that my organization threw. He kind of works closely with me as far as that. So it’s a dope relationship.
Ryan Shazier: So what is a typical day like?
Julian Cann: Well, a typical day, I mean, it depends on if I’ve got work, or if I'll go work out. Say on Monday, you know, I’ve got to be at work from 10 to 3. So I’ll get up around 8, you know what I mean. Brush my teeth, shower up, all that good stuff, pack a lunch, get dressed, and then I'll shoot to work. Sometimes we go to the hospital, we got to the clinic, you know, check in with the patients, get new people signed up. Or I'm at the office, calling you know a lot of the patients and families -- we call them families -- so we call a lot of the families, let them know about events going on. And then when I get off at 3, usually I'll go home and chill for a minute, and then I’ll go drive to my mom’s, check on her, walk the dog, you know, make sure everything is good. And then if I go to the gym, I'll be there until maybe like 7 or 8, go home, try to eat a late little dinner. And then the next day, if I'm off I’ll do some writing, work on some music. So it's just a lot of things. It just depends on what day it is and what I got going on that week.
Ryan Shazier: You have a pretty busy day.
Julian Cann: Yeah. Yeah.
Ryan Shazier: Mine is kind of similar. I wake up around 7, 8. We have team meetings around 8:30. Then I try to do rehab around ten. I have like two rehab sessions, so it’ll be 10 and 11, and then I’ll work out with the team for a little bit. You know, I'm back in school, so I’ve got class around 6. So I won't get home until about 9, and then sometimes I might be studying and things like that. So we’ve both got some pretty busy schedules, man.
Julian Cann: Right.
Ryan Shazier: Do you feel like music is delivering the message that you're trying to present?
Julian Cann: Yeah, most definitely. Because I just feel like it goes together with my lifestyle, like what I believe and go for. And I believe that I'm a dope lyricist and I'm a good poet. And a lot of people love what I do. I wouldn't do it if people didn't love or even like what I did, you know. So it just, I think it just keeps people reminding themselves, you know, just ‘cause you’ve got sickle cell, that don't mean nothing. ‘Cause I think a lot of people, you know, they look up to different celebrities that have overcome different things. But I’ve got a regular job, so I'm not looked at like that, but for them to see I'm still doing what I’ve got to do (helps). ‘Cause I think it’s easy to (say), “I’ve got sickle cell, I'm not going to pursue this.” But just do it, you know what I mean? Even if you don't get the outcome from it, you'll get the experience. So I think a lot of people are inspired by my music, especially a lot of the kids. They watch everything I do from battles, to music videos. I'm sure they'll watch this, so it’s dope. You know as long as I'm giving the right message, I want to continue to do it.
Ryan Shazier: A lot of people, they tend to just give up on themselves when they see what they deal with some type of serious adversity.
Julian Cann: Mm-hmm.
Ryan Shazier: So that's why I'm happy that we are able to have you on here so they understand, “Hey, man, not just celebrities deal with issues, but everyday people deal with it, too, and they overcome it.”
Julian Cann: Most definitely.
Ryan Shazier: So what are some of your plans for the future?
Julian Cann: The future, man, I’ve just got a lot of plans. I want to maximize what I'm doing now as far as advocating and educating and spreading awareness. You know, if I could just continue to do that, you know, I have been doing these things before I got a check for them. So that's never going to change. I'm going to have sickle cell. As long as I have sickle cell, which most likely be for the rest of the time I'm here, I'm going to continue to do things. I'm trying to do a little more traveling and get with other cities. And I definitely, you know, want to write a book on nutrition. I don't want to gear it toward sickle cell. I want to put information that will benefit everybody. You know, I don't want to just close off anybody. So I’ve got a couple plans in the works, but I'm definitely going to keep moving and just keep inspiring and motivating. And even myself, it's motivating to see myself, to see where I came from. The future is definitely looking bright.
Ryan Shazier: What all have you learned from having sickle cell?
Julian Cann: That’s a good question. One thing I learned from having sickle cell is that it’s kind of like a lot of other things: It’s a thumbprint disease. Because, you know, sometimes people may think, “Oh, all right, this person’s got diabetes, they go through the same thing.” With sickle cell, it’s very different. You know, you’ve got people with the trait. You’ve got SC, SS, different lanes of it. You know, just educate yourself as best as you can, and I think that will give you the best outcome. What I've learned is just to keep learning. I've got better with my health from learning about nutrition and health, trying to look on the bright side of life. Because when you got a disease, you’ve been sick enough. Now it’s time to be getting healthy and eating right and reading more, so, you know, I definitely would just say what I've learned from it is just keep learning and educate yourself.
Ryan Shazier: What is your best advice for someone dealing with sickle cell?
Julian Cann: Start practicing a better diet. What you can control is what you put in your body every day, and, you know, trying to work out, be active. I would tell them to eat right, be active, read, just try to be positive. You’ve got enough negativity going on, I'm sure, with having sickle cell. And that's not to say everybody with sickle cell has a bad story. There's some people with sickle cell that never go to the hospital. You know, you just definitely want to, you know, stay active, don't sit around at home every day. Read, learn about health, learn about nutrition, work out, and just be active.
Ryan Shazier: I think that advice is best for anybody dealing with sickle cell, scoliosis, you know, life, diabetes, anything. I feel once you learn up on a topic, eating healthy, and trying to better yourself, you will grow as a person in general. So I think that, that's some great advice.
Julian Cann: Appreciate that. And that's exactly why when I said I'm thinking about writing a book, it’s going to be geared towards living healthy. The information I'm going give can benefit everybody.
Ryan Shazier: What would be some advice that you would give kids dealing with sickle cell?
Julian Cann: They need to early on just start reading, start developing your brain power. Learning about nutrition, you know, get with your parents, watch videos on YouTube. They have documentaries: “What the health”? All kind of Netflix. Start practicing drinking water. Stay away from Kool-Aid, (Little) Hugs. I don't know what people drink nowadays. But Pepsi, all that. Steer away from that. Candy, you know? Learn about eating right. Because that's going, if you start young, that will take you further on. You don't got to wait until you're in your 20s, and you're doing it, and then you're going through a lot of stuff. So definitely stay reading, and stay active. Try to get into sports. If football is too harsh, try basketball. If basketball is too harsh, try track. If you don't want to play sports, take walks in your neighborhood. Stay active, stretch, yoga, get massages. Anything that is pretty much good for adults is good for kids. It’s not an age limit.
Ryan Shazier: Would that be the same advice that you would have wished somebody gave you?
Julian Cann: Most definitely. But at the same time, who knows if I would've listened to it? Because when you're a kid, I think it’s hard to fathom that if I eat right, I won't get sick. It seems more complex than that. It seems too simple, so, you know, I don't know if that is just the answer. That's why I think parents need to take initiative to lead by example and, you know, prepare better meals for their kids. And a lot of it is on them as well. But kids, they definitely could, you know, they’ve got the internet. They could Google anything nowadays. So definitely take advantage of that.
Ryan Shazier: So we’re in a music studio. Explain to me why.
Julian Cann: Yeah, man, this is like home. You know, these days it’s a lot of home studios. You know, everybody does the Mac Pro with the mic and the Dre Beats. But, you know, this brings it back ‘cause (when) I started rapping, you know, we didn't have the home studios like that. So this is where it started. If you was blessed, if you was talented enough to have somebody to believe in you, to bring you in, this is where it started. So, you know, this just brings it back because music and writing, even doing this interview, it makes me realize how much I've been blessed to, you know, express myself through writing and poetry and rap. And I'm sure that took a lot of pain and a lot of, you know, weight off my shoulders to express myself like that. So the studio is everything for me. It just, you know, shows that, that's how I express myself. Like you express yourself on the field. Different people might express themselves through dancing. This is how I get mine off, through writing, rapping, and performing. Like, writing, I always had that. When I was in the hospital sick, I always had a pen and a pad and my brain. I could be productive, and then I could share it to the world, and it becomes something positive. It’s kind of reminding me what I’ve got to get back to and really going harder with the music. So that's why we’re here, for sure.
Ryan Shazier: Why are we in the recording studio?
Julian Cann: Well, we’re in the recording studio because, you know, me, I’m a recording artist. I consider myself like a lyricist/poet. You know, I'm big on words, and, you know, this is where it all started, really. My cousin, you know, he used to do beats, and he had money. So he would bring me to the studio when I couldn't afford it. And he believed in me, and different people believed in me, so, you know, this is where it all starts. Writing, it all really starts from writing in the bedroom, wanting to let your friends hear it, and them going crazy. And, you know, that helped a lot with me being through different pain crises when I was in the hospital. ‘Cause I always had a pen, I always had a pad, and my thoughts. And that's all I really needed. So going to the studio is a good feeling because that's where I express myself. That's where I'm comfortable. And that's how I got, you know, a lot of people to listen and, you know, a lot of people to tune in. So, you know, it all just comes together being in here right now.
Ryan Shazier: You know music is just poetry, man.
Julian Cann: Right.
Ryan Shazier: What role does music play in your life?
Julian Cann: It plays an important role because it is my life, a part of the reason why I have a voice. Music gave me a voice. Writing gave me a voice. So, when I was young, you know, people really didn't want to hear too much about what was going on. But when I would write, people would tap in. So I just felt like writing and music, man, and reading, it all goes hand in hand. Being that I'm a good reader, it helped me be a good writer. But I always had my pen, I always had my pad. When I was sick, whether I was at the hospital or at home, I could always create through my mind. You know what I mean? I might not have been the best guy working with my hands, but I could use my brain to come up with creative. Like, I'm just a creative person. So music definitely gave me a voice, and it definitely gave me a lane to express myself, and all the pain and all the things that I went through. In a creative way, not just in like, you know, a crybaby whine, you know, sad way, but like in a strong way. You know, I’ve got sickle cell, but I'm still spitting strength. I'm not like a victim. I'm a warrior. So it just gave me that spirit.
Ryan Shazier: So music was therapy?
Julian Cann: Most definitely. Like, if I didn’t have music, who knows where I would be. And it’s sad to say that, but it’s the truth.
Ryan Shazier: I’m Ryan Shazier. I want to thank you for listening to my “50 Phenoms” podcast. Follow along with me by visiting UPMC.me/50phenoms. Sign up to receive our emails and text alerts, too."
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string(32269) "Joe Aigner couldn’t swallow his steak one Fourth of July. A diagnosis of stage IV esophageal cancer, an especially lethal form of the disease, came the next day. The next year brought multiple rounds of chemotherapy, radiation and surgery for cancer, nasty side effects, and open-heart surgery. Through it all, Joe leaned on his team – family, friends, and doctors – and his own strength to survive. Nine years later, Joe is cancer-free and a happy husband and father. Learn more about his story on the latest episode of the “Ryan Shazier 50 Phenoms” podcast.
Listen to this episode on Spotify, Google, and iHeart Radio
Listen to more episodes of Ryan Shazier's 50 Phenoms Podcast
Read The Full Podcast Transcript
Announcer: Phenomenal challenges, phenomenal story. Next, on “Ryan Shazier’s 50 Phenoms,” from major setbacks to amazing comebacks.
Announcer: In this episode of “50 Phenoms,” Ryan Shazier talks with avid golfer Joe Aigner. Hear how he found the motivation to overcome esophageal cancer, quadruple bypass heart surgery, gout, shingles, and back surgery, all in the same year.
Ryan Shazier: How are you doing, Joe?
Joe Aigner: Great. Nice to meet you. Thank you so much.
Ryan Shazier: Nice to meet you also. Thank you so much for coming on and …
Joe Aigner: Appreciate that.
Ryan Shazier: … sharing your story with us. Can you tell me everything that happened on July 4?
Joe Aigner: July 4th, 2010, we went to a family gathering, just having steak on the barbecue, had taken my first bite and swallowed, and it just didn't seem like it was going down. I took a drink, still didn't seem like it was going down, brought it to my wife's attention. And she's an ER nurse, so she did kind of come up with what's going on and determined that I would need to go to the hospital. There was something happening. Still, I just felt that maybe I swallowed wrong or something. You never want to think the worst, of course.
Ryan Shazier: Or it was the cooking.
Joe Aigner: Exactly. (Laughs) We got there, and they said, “We’re going to have to put you through a number of tests,” and what have you. Initially, because I was having pain in my chest from trying to really cough it up, they started looking at it from a cardiac standpoint. And then after some different scans and what have you, said that I would need an endoscopy for them to look. The next day they did that, on July 5, and determined that it was a tumor that was actually causing my esophagus to have tightened up to the point I wasn't able to swallow. That's a life-changing experience right there, when anybody tells you, "You have cancer," and that's when I was fortunate to have my wife in the field and for her to be such attentive to the details of finding out what type of cancer it is. Who do we need to look at: surgeon, oncologist? We found that Dr. Luketich was kind of the (Thomas E.) Starzl of the esophageal cancer situation. His issue was he was leaving for sabbatical at the time, it really took a lot on her part of diligence to finally get us an appointment, and we were able to get in there. He determined that I would need to be put on a feeding tube, which ended up being for almost a year.
Ryan Shazier: How long from after you finding out that you had throat cancer, I think on July 5, till the doctor telling you, you needed a feeding tube? How long of a process was that?
Joe Aigner: Fortunately, that was only a matter of a week. We were very fortunate, and due to her diligence in getting the appointment set. You really need a team. There's no I in team, and there really isn't. You need family to help you out, and then once you get there, the doctors that you need, it's a team of doctors, from the oncologist to the surgeons, the radiology department. They determined I would go through a round of radiation, 28 days along with the chemo, and then they would retake another PET scan. And that PET scan, initially, along with the endoscope, is what determined that I had the tumor cancer cells that expanded into my lymph nodes in my chest and going up my neck – and there's a scar behind here. They did those surgeries to try to see if they could get those lymph nodes out of my neck before they progressed to my brain.
Ryan Shazier: So you had first found out that you had esophageal cancer, and then you had another PET scan and found out that you had lymph nodes continuing to progress?
Joe Aigner: Right.
Ryan Shazier: Did you have to have another surgery for that?
Joe Aigner: They were going to initially do them both at the same time, but then they realized that it had progressed so far. Dr. Luketich actually stopped the surgery and came to my wife. He said that, "We need to stop (and) with your permission, go for more radiation and more chemo to try to curtail this."
Ryan Shazier: When the doctor told you that, what was the thoughts that you had in your mind? What were you thinking?
Joe Aigner: To regress a moment: So, I have a 4-year-old (at the time). It was like, "Whatever you need me to do, you just tell me. I have 4-year-old, I'm not going to leave her, it just isn't going to happen." And he agreed. He said, “I understand where you're coming from, but you’ve got to understand that you need to get your affairs in order because you have stage IV cancer. But we'll do everything we can and we have very good outcomes from it, but it's going to take a lot of perseverance on your part.”
Ryan Shazier: I kind of know where you're coming from. I didn’t have cancer, but my son is 5 now and (my spinal injury) happened two years ago. My son was 3 like your daughter, and they told me I'd never walk again. They were saying just for a chance for you to walk, it’ll take a lot of resilience, a lot of perseverance. You’re just going to have to trust the process and continue to push every day. Those are some things that you never want to hear, especially when you have a 3-year-old, or you feel like you're healthy. Every day you’re feeling like there’s nothing wrong with you: "It can't be me." Just to know that you're going through that process and your kids are there with you and they're seeing everything that you're going through, that probably was some motivation for you to keep pushing.
Joe Aigner: Oh, it was, because she didn't really understand what was going on; you're still just dad. They come and expect you to do all the things that you were doing before, (like) picking them up. I couldn't do that anymore because I had a feeding tube, and they said you can't lift anything. As soon as I'd sit down, she'd be next to me in my arms. It was just knowing that I couldn't do that right now, which was a bit devastating to me, of course. That gives you the inspiration that you need to persevere and move forward. I'm sure your rehab, it was far from pleasant. And there's nobody that enjoys chemo and radiation. The first one you go, "Oh, I can deal with this." You just don't realize that's just a small dose and then once it starts to build in your system, it kind of gets a little more restrictive, so to speak. And then that's when the side effects kind of start to take place.
Ryan Shazier: So after dealing with weeks of chemo, then finding out you had to actually get more radiation, how did it affect you just knowing that that wasn't your last step -- there was more coming?
Joe Aigner: You keep going through the process, and they keep giving you the outline of where you need to go, and this is where we're moving next. And then you end up with some setbacks all of a sudden. I had a PET scan done again after that initial one, and they found out that none of it worked. The tumor didn't go down, it didn't shrink. Dr Friedland in oncology sat down with us, and my wife being a nurse, she quizzes everybody and she kept diligent records. She wrote everything down. So she wanted to know what this new cocktail actually entailed, and he was like, "Well, it has platinum in it," and this and that. He started into it, and she's diligently writing everything down. He said, “You know what, you're not going to be able to Google this. This is a new cocktail. We have nothing to lose, and we're going to give it a shot.” We tried that along with some additional radiation. After another eight weeks, (there was) a definite reduction in the size. It was working in the right direction.
Joe Aigner: Everything started turning in my direction from that aspect, but then unfortunately now you've had so much chemo and radiation, the side effects start to happen. I got out of bed the one morning and I hit the floor, and it was like I could hardly stand up. I looked down, and my feet are swollen. My wife being a nurse, I always tease her about tucking in the corners of the sheets all the time, and they're so tight. I couldn't get my feet out. And she looks at them like, “Yeah, nothing to do with my sheets. You have the gout.” And I was like, "What is the gout?" I couldn't even fit my feet in my shoes. She had to go and buy me larger shoes just to get down to the hospital. They said, “We took some blood work," and she told me on the way down, "There's prescriptions that you can take that will reduce that swelling and everything.” So I was all set for that. It was like, anything to make his pain go away. And Dr Friedland goes, "Yup, we have all that, but we can't give it to you. When you're on chemo, we can't give you any of those type of drugs."
Ryan Shazier: What was your thought process?
Joe Aigner: It just starts to get to the point you have to laugh – you have to move through it. He said the same thing: “You're laughing.” I'm like, “I don't know what else to do. It's either laugh or cry. I was crying this morning when I hit the floor." You just sit there and go, "Well, it's just another day. We’ve got to just keep moving on." I started getting through that, and probably three weeks later, same type of deal. Wake up in the morning, my back's really bothering me. Show it to my wife, and she says, “I think you have shingles.” Another wonderful side effect possibly from the chemo because I wasn't around anybody or anything that had it. Went down again, and they said, “We can't give you anything for it.”
Ryan Shazier: Dealing with all this pain, how were you able just to continue to fight through it? Because I know that you're dealing with the chemo and you're trying to fight off the cancer, but you were dealing with a lot of pain and you couldn’t even do nothing about it. How were you able to continue to just push?
Joe Aigner: You just have to see the light to say, “Hey, it's going to get better. I'm going to walk again, fight through this.” Now she's 4 years old, I can't just lay down and succumb to this. When you're just sitting down and the blood’s not moving, it takes longer for you to heal and what have you. The more you move, the more your body wants to heal. I would drive my wife crazy at times. She would come home from work and it's like I was stir-crazy. I had walked around outside. I want to get out, go around and see somebody, go to the store, go to the mall and walk around a little bit. At times because you're on chemo, you shouldn't be around other people. They check your blood counts and everything. It's like, “Well, I’ll stay away from them, just take me for a ride,” type of deal.
Joe Aigner: You’ve got to have those little short-term goals. I’ve got to get dressed every morning. I can't sit around in pajamas all the time. That's what I would do. Every day, I had a goal that I was going to get in the shower, I was going to get dressed. When I went to chemo, I put my dress clothes on. I had khakis on, my polo button-down shirt. A lot of times people didn't even realize that I was a patient. I would go into treatment area, and they would step in and say, “Can I help you?” It's like, “I'm the patient that’s in here,” and they’d go, “Oh, OK.” Then they'd look for my band on my wrist. That was my way of overcoming what I was going through, if I just tried to progress it every other day and this was my job. My job was getting through this cancer and the other side effects that come along the way. (laughs)
Ryan Shazier: That's amazing because with myself, I had short-term goals, and I used to call them first downs. Every time I'd get a first down, I would achieve a goal, or make a step, or just stand up. I would call that, “Oh, this is another first down,” because I'm a football player.
Joe Aigner: That’s right.
Ryan Shazier: Trying to relate these back to what's comfortable to me. To you, you felt getting dressed and just being professional every day was a goal for you to get through chemo. I felt the same way for me. I think that positivity and that goal mindset really helps a lot of people get better every single day. I think that really helped you out a lot.
Joe Aigner: Oh, absolutely. Being in business and being always structured to be goal-oriented and looking at what's my next objective, be it sales or what have you, my sales staff, what’s our projections and whatnot, that mindset of just keeping the ball rolling. As they always say, “If you don't grow, you die,” that type of deal. “If I'm not moving, I'm not growing,” is where I was at my mindset overall.
Ryan Shazier: That’s amazing. After having the shingles and overcoming that, were there any more setbacks that you had to deal with?
Joe Aigner: So finally, we were to the point of surgery, and they said, “Well, we think we should do a stress test.” The doctor kind of looked at me. I was ready. He's like, “Well, we could get you set up – it’s Monday, we could get you in on Wednesday.” I'm like, “I’m in. I'm ready to get this over with.” He said, “Well, we should maybe do a stress test, but how are you feeling?” “I feel great. I'm ready to go.” Dr. Luketich's nurse, Amy McBroom, he was tied up with some other things, and she'd come in. UPMC is just amazing with their appointments. You don't leave an appointment until you have your questions answered. Sometimes it extends the appointments to get in there, but at least when you leave, you definitely feel. It's not like you're going to the dentist by any means; this is your life. Amy was just adamant about, “I have it scheduled.” And I was like, “Oh, man,” because that moved back surgery until they got the results. She made it for the next day. I go in, I'm on the treadmill as you know. We’re just trucking along. I have one at home, no problems.
Joe Aigner: I didn't think nothing of it while they do the nuclear side of it. Went in, did that, come back out, and we’re talking and everything. I come out, I thought I was good to go, and the doctor stepped out and my wife knew him, Dr. Adelstein. He said, “I'm going to need to talk to you both.” Then he took us in. He says, “Joe, you're going to need four heart bypasses, like today. We don't really know how you're standing here right now. Your blockages are so severe. So severe, we're going to take you by ambulance to Presby. I've already called Dr. Gleason, he's waiting for you.”
Joe Aigner: That was another one of those moments that you start to reflect again. It was like, “Really?” Sitting down with Dr. Gleason the following morning, and then he said the same thing, “Four heart bypasses, you need to get your life in order again.” I'm thinking in my head, “I'm getting tired of hearing this again.” He said there’s great outcomes. I didn't have any issues. I wasn't short of breath. This was just a routine stress test. Initially, I was supposed to go in the next day for surgery, but it was Friday. He said, "You guys were involved in some games that Sunday, meaning the Steelers." He says, “You don't want to be here for the Steeler game, you'd rather be home.” I'm like, “Absolutely.” He's like, “Why don't you go home? Come back Monday afternoon and we'll do the heart surgery.” I’m like, “I'm all in.” I call my wife up, and she's like, “I don't think so. Put him on the phone – you’re not coming home.” He convinced her, and she let me come home. Then I was back there on Monday, had surgery, and walked out Thursday.
Joe Aigner: To have four heart bypasses and to walk out of there basically three days later, it's just a testament to UPMC and their staff. Dr. Gleason is amazing. There again, he's like, “Joe, the only way you're going to get out of here is you have to show me. You have to walk up that hall. There's a dry erase board at the end, and you put a check next to your name every time you walk up and back, up and back.” There was 10 checkmarks. I'd go up and back. I'd come back in, go up and back. I'd do 10. I'd go up, I’d erase some, then I’d do circles and I’d do Xs. Then the nurses were harassing me for wearing the wax off the floor, but I was determined. The drains were starting to overcome, and the blood was actually coming out, unbeknownst to me, running down my leg and out onto the floors. I was walking the one time, and they stopped me. They're like, “You know what?”
Ryan Shazier: You need to go back.
Joe Aigner: “You need to get back to your room.” So they made a point of telling him that, “He walks more than anybody we know. He walks up and down these halls more than us.” But I was determined to walk out of there. Because the only way was to get through this surgery to get the tumor out and having your chest wired back together and everything. The one evening the one doctor came in, I was talking to him about the surgeries. He says, “Do you have any questions about what's coming up?” I said, “Well, I think I've experienced the hardest one.” He goes, “Oh, no.” He says, “Having heart surgery is being hit by a truck. When you have these esophagectomy, it will be being hit by a freight train. He says, “You wanted to know.” I'm like, “I would rather know so I know where from the esophagectomy that I would be in an induced coma for two days afterwards,” because they would have to deflate my lung and take out one of my ribs to be able to go in and take the tumor out. From that surgery, it was 30 days later for them to do the actual esophagectomy.
Ryan Shazier: Can you tell me about your support system, and who was it?
Joe Aigner: Absolutely. Basically, a team. My wife is an amazing coach and patient advocate. She was the one that really put together the team that I needed in the way of having a surgeon, being Dr. Luketich. He has led the esophageal cancer new surgery techniques and what have you, along with Dr. Friedland. Then, from my family: my brother, Rich, and Sue, my sister-in-law; my friends Mark and Debbie, David, Darryl, Mike and Joyce. Yeah. Everybody steps in because we had a 4-year old. We needed someone to help out there, keep an eye on her when I was at 28 days of radiation. First run was 12 weeks of chemo. You have to be there three days a week, and it’s hours each time you go. It makes it very difficult if you didn't have a great family and friends. As they always say, “There's no I in team,” and there truly isn't when it comes to these type of situations, when you have kids or who you're trying to overcome these issues with and for and you want to see them grow and you be part of their life.
Ryan Shazier: To me, I had the whole city of Pittsburgh, and my family were there for me by my side, but just also the support and the prayers that I've gotten. Just feeling the support, it might not even be there, but just the prayers and people that just want to see you healthy, sometimes that just uplifts you also.
Joe Aigner: I always say I’m a miracle of prayer and modern medicine.
Ryan Shazier: Can you please tell me about your setbacks?
Joe Aigner: With having esophageal cancer, the setbacks that kind of come from the side effects of the radiation and the chemo, it kind of started out initially, one morning I had the gout. Three weeks later, wake up again, I’ve got shingles. Every time I would go in, it was the same type of situation, that this is a possible side effect. We don't often see it. Of course, I don't want to miss out on anything. At that point, having found out that I now need four heart bypasses after having a stress test prior to surgery – to have to go through that – after having the four heart bypasses, then going in for the esophageal resection, thought everything was fine. Got home, and my daughter had been waiting patiently for nearly a year for me to be able to pick her up again, and they had taken the feeding tube out and they said, "You can lift now – 35, 40 pounds." As soon as I got that OK, she was excited to have me pick her up. I pick her up, and immediately, I had just this pain in my back. I felt a pop. It just brought me to my knees, and due to the severe amount of radiation on my esophagus, it softened the vertebrae in my back. Two of my vertebrae collapsed. Then, I had to have another surgery after all those. They repaired my back, and they said, “Again, that's just another side effect of the radiation and the chemo.”
Ryan Shazier: You've been through a lot. So, you would say it was your daughter that kept you going this whole time?
Joe Aigner: She was. When I went in the hospital the first time, she gave me this little Mickey Mouse that she always took to bed with her, and she says, “This will keep you safe.” We used to always tell her that when we went on plane rides and when we would go on vacation: "Take your stuffed animals, they'll keep you safe." I would always end up giving Mickey a kiss goodnight. My roommate the one time said, “Oh, you really like that Mickey.” (Laughs) My daughter was my inspiration. She was 3 when I was initially diagnosed; she turned 4 shortly thereafter. I just couldn't see having her grow up without me and having missed that, and that was my inspiration every day. Whatever it takes, whatever I need to do, whatever chemistry they’ve got to put in me, I'm all in. It's just the perseverance to get through it.
Ryan Shazier: I can say the same thing about my children. Every day I look at them, and I’m just truly blessed to have them, and I know how much I want to be impactful to their lives. I know I have to keep pushing just to make sure that they know that their father is here for them, no matter what.
Ryan Shazier: So Joe, why are we in a golf locker room?
Joe Aigner: The one saving grace that kept my sanity at times was being able to go around, and I had a putting mat in my basement, my game room. And fortunately, we have five acres of ground that I was able to do some chipping around by the house and hit some easy shots just to kind of break up the monotony of the day and take your mind off of things. There's not a whole lot on afternoon television, to say the least. The Golf Channel was my saving grace. So then after, I get out and I felt like I was still active. That's a big part of just trying to get that perseverance and like I said, trying to be goal-setting and saying, "OK, I want to go out and hit 10 balls today." It doesn't sound like a lot, but it just takes so much out of you: hit them, then go and walk. It gave me some exercise, got the blood moving again. It felt like I was able to accomplish something what I was looking for and keep my swing in.
Joe Aigner: I was a coach for the First Tee here in Pittsburgh, coach for the PGA Junior League that my daughter's on. We were fortunate to come in first place this year. It was exciting. It's a team event. That's always been something. She had been a competitive dancer, and her mom was a dancer. She did extremely well at that. As things progressed, her ability in golf surpassed her dancing from the aspect that she was able to achieve things beyond her years. It's been exciting to be able to still be here and see that progression. Golf's always been one of those things for me in business: As you know, I have you for four hours on the golf course. We don't have four hours in the office, but if we get out on the course, I’ve got your attention for four hours.
Joe Aigner: It's been the same way with her. It's our time. You learn a lot from the skills of learning how to drive the ball, putt the ball, chip the ball. And then the mental game that you kind of mess with them a little bit when they're putting or whatnot, break her concentration a little bit. You have to call penalties on yourself. She’s learned a lot, and I think it's a game for life. It keeps me inspired, seeing her grow with the game, and hopefully it'll be something that she can do for the rest of her life.
Ryan Shazier: So golf helped you mentally overcome what you were dealing with, but also helped you grow your relationship with your daughter.
Joe Aigner: Right. It's a mental game, by all means, just trying to keep focused and give you something to do. Sitting in front of the television set, after you get progressed so far along with the chemo, it keeps giving you limited ability to do different things and you get stuck at home for a period of time during your rehabilitation. Part of my rehabilitation was going to physical therapy, getting on the treadmill. I found out the elliptical was my nemesis. They kind of started you out on time: "Do three minutes of this." I thought, "Well, three minutes. That's no big deal." Until you get on that thing – it’s a workout. The stair climber.
Ryan Shazier: Stair climber, I hated that. When I was in college, that was punishment for us. I already know, just trying to do it as rehab probably was horrible. I know it definitely does wonders for you.
Joe Aigner: It does. From a cardiac standpoint, it gets your heart rolling without a doubt and beating and moving forward. It was a great progression, and those were the kind of things that I got. It kept me motivated when I was down to 98 pounds. I'm about 130 or so now. I never thought that when they said, “Hey, you have to eat,” I'm like, "I’m all in there." Just those little things that you take for granted. Even coming off of a feeding tube after being there on for a year, my wife would pack me snacks and a lunch to take with me in the car, and when I'd get home she'd check my bag and she's like, “You ate two things all day – really?" It's hard to believe, but you forget. You just forget to eat. You haven't done it for so long.
Ryan Shazier: You had to rehab your body, even your mind, even your diet.
Joe Aigner: Just learning to eat again.
Ryan Shazier: Yeah, because you're so used to eating a certain way for a year. Now, you have to actually start eating whole meals again. Truly been a mental game for you after the surgery.
Joe Aigner: Right, and starting out with, you couldn't just jump back into whole foods. You had to start out with soft foods and kind of move your way up, get your digestive system back in order. It was a progression again. And there was all those little goals like you say each day, just a perseverance of saying, "OK, I'm going to do this today. Your diet, this is what I need to eat today. This is what I want to do for physical therapy today." I just hope that it gives people hope that you have to look at the short-term goals. You're not going to get well overnight, but it will happen. The light at the end of the tunnel isn't always a freight train. Sometimes, it is the light of a new day. That’s kind of the way I looked at it. I needed to look forward and see that whatever the day brings, I was happy when I woke up in the morning.
Ryan Shazier: Are you back to doing things that you always wanted to do?
Joe Aigner: We are very fortunate that my wife and I were able to start our own small business, and we started Steel City Lubricants & Supply here about six years ago. It's been growing and very prosperous. We've been very fortunate that I had been in for almost 30 years, and my wife had always been there with me along that progression as well. So we were kind of familiar with it, had a good customer base of customers in our Pittsburgh market that we knew, and they've been very attentive to come on board with us. It's been a goal that we both always wanted to achieve, and we've been fortunate enough to be able to do that. We're excited about that every day.
Ryan Shazier: What are some of the goals that you have for the future?
Joe Aigner: I would love to have it grow to the point that it would be something that I could leave to my daughter and have her take over the business someday. She currently helps with the paperwork side: the bookkeeping, the filing. So she's kind of learning the business. She goes out on occasion and does deliveries. That's something that we've been moving toward as a long-term goal. Yeah, of course, she'll tell you she would rather be on the LPGA Tour, and I hope that is the case someday. We'd love to see her on TV, and hopefully she'll be signing autographs like you someday.
Ryan Shazier: Hey, maybe. How do you feel this experience changed you?
Joe Aigner: It's been a life-changing experience. It started out in 2010. Now, it's 2020. I've been fortunate enough to be cancer-free now for going on nine years. You always hope and pray that shoe’s not going to drop. Take a look at every day as a new day, and I'm going to make the best of every day because you just never know what's going to happen tomorrow. And you can't worry about it because you can't change it. You just have to persevere and push through, have the hope that everything works out well. I've been a positive person by nature that if you don't worry about it, it's mind over matter. If you don't mind, it doesn't matter type of situation. I'd go through that going through chemo. You have your bad days and say, “Well, hey, it'll be better tomorrow. Forget about today.”
Ryan Shazier: I'm Ryan Shazier. I want to thank you for listening to my “50 Phenoms” podcast. Follow along with me by visiting upmc.me/50 Phenoms. Sign up to receive our emails and texts from those, too.
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