‘The Bachelor: Listen to Your Heart’: How Julia Is Following Her Dreams While Living With Cystic Fibrosis
Julia Rae is a 27-year-old Pop musician on The Bachelor: Listen to Your Heart. Currently, she’s torn between Sheridan Reed and Brandon Mills. But she’s been doing her best to be honest about her feelings as she attempts to navigate where her heart’s at.
According to her ABC bio, “Julia sang before she could talk. Her music career began in the theater at age 6. She started recording original songs professionally by age 15. Julia struggled with cystic fibrosis throughout her life but because of recent breakthroughs in medicine, Julia’s health has stabilized and as a result, she has a second chance at life, music and love. Now, she cannot wait to meet her husband! Julia’s looking for a man who will go the distance with her, singing all the way.”
Additionally, “For eight years, Julia was a featured singer in the local ABC Thanksgiving Day Parade in Philadelphia,” “she won Miss Pennsylvania Teen and Miss Philadelphia,” and “she has a dog named Boo Radley.”
Julia talks about having cystic fibrosis on ‘The Bachelor: Listen to Your Heart’
Julia’s opened up on Listen to Your Heart about being diagnosed with cystic fibrosis.
“Pretty quickly after I started working with producers, I started to get very sick from my cystic fibrosis,” she said. “I landed in the hospital with a partially collapsed lung and the medications would potentially cause severe hearing loss.”
Julia and her mother worried if she’d be able to continue singing, particularly if she lost her hearing. But a new medication saved and changed her life.
“I actually thought I was going to die, [but] then this new medication changed my life,” she shared. “If anyone asks me if I believe in miracles, the answer is yes. When I was sick, I wondered if I’d be around long enough to make it worth finding someone…Now I’m ready to pursue music professionally, and I want to find my person.”
Well, she’s definitely on the right show.
In addition to being a singer, Julia is also the founder of Singing at the Top of My Lungs, a nonprofit that brings awareness to cystic fibrosis and funds musical therapy in children’s hospitals.
How Julia is responding to the coronavirus pandemic
Julia is currently putting her “life on hold” due to having cystic fibrosis amid the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.
“Everyone who lives with cystic fibrosis has known a life that hinges on their exposure to the next infection. Isolation and quarantine are not new buzz words for us — every time I’ve been hospitalized for a collapsed lung, or recovered from surgery, I was confined to one room. Ironically, this is the first time I feel healthy to take on the world and my dreams, yet my life is on hold because I have cystic fibrosis. It’s not safe for me to do anything but self-quarantine until we have a better handle on COVID-19. This isn’t a Morgan Freeman movie. It’s real life. It’s not just my life. It’s your grandmother’s, your father’s, your cousin’s, your neighbor’s. It’s your own,” she wrote on Instagram on March 12.
Julia continued: “So let’s move forward with that in mind. Read about what is happening in Italy. Social distancing is proven to help flatten the curve. I’ve posted articles in my story that illustrate that more scientifically than I ever could. (Charts ain’t my thang 💁🏼♀️) Let’s do our best to protect one another. Thank you to those who have reached out and to those who are encouraging social distancing. Unending gratitude to the healthcare workers on the front lines who are putting their lives in jeopardy every day.”
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