Jamie Keeton (USA) has a mysterious medical condition that has allowed him to break a record that’s hard to wrap your head around.
On 1 June 2022, Jamie “Canhead” Keeton broke the record for the most drink cans placed on head using air suction.
Jamie, who originally set this record on 11 January 2016 by attaching eight cans to his head, reclaimed his title using 10 cans after Shunichi Kanno of Hachioji, Tokyo, Japan broke the record on 1 September 2019 with nine cans.
Each can is held in place using air pressure, with Jamie’s skin creating a suction effect.
The cans were required to remain in position for at least five seconds for Jamie to earn the record title.
Jamie jokingly refers to himself as a “real-life mutant”, inspired by the incredible feats of the X-Men, a fictional band of people with superhuman abilities.
Like a page taken from this superhero comic book, Jamie’s skin allows him to stick objects to his hands and catapult them into the air.
Jamie, also affectionally known as “Canpa” by his grandchildren, first suspected he had a special skill when he was seven years old.
“Toys started sticking to my hands, but my parents thought it was just the pine sap from the trees that I climbed so I pretty much left it alone for a while.”
It wasn’t until Jamie shaved his head for the first time and attended a baseball game that he realized the extent of his skin’s stickiness.
“I was trying to cool my head down. I dried it off first, grabbed a can of pop, and just started cooling my head down,” he said.
“As I was doing that, they hit a homerun and I went up to grab it [the ball] and missed, and then I was like ‘Where’s my drink?’ It was stuck to the back of my head,” Jamie continued.
To confirm it wasn’t all in his head, Jamie consulted a doctor regarding his unique talent.
Human skin usually absorbs a small amount of oxygen as a means of sustaining the uppermost layer of skin cells.
However, Jamie’s skin is able take in more oxygen than the average human’s, causing his oxygen levels to be 23 percent higher than normal levels and allowing his body to act as somewhat of a magnet.
“I actually have a skin condition that’s not named yet where my skin pores literally suck in oxygen.”
Although Jamie’s condition is still somewhat of a mystery, many believe the cause could be anything from “sticky skin syndrome” to a host of other genetic skin conditions affecting his body temperature or the proteins in his sweat.
“I’m literally like one of four in the world,” said Jamie.
Jamie believes his unique ability has something to do with his rare A negative blood type.
As his nickname suggests, “Canhead” is best known for sticking cans to his head, but they actually aren’t the only objects Jamie can stick to himself.
“What’s amazing is the weight of the things that I can actually stick to my head – like a full can of peanuts,” said Jamie.
“I can do full cans, empty cans, glass bottles, plastic bottles…I do it all.”
Although Jamie discovered his incredibly rare skill by accident, he now uses his magnetizing talent to entertain others by pouring drinks from bottles attached to his head!
“I now have made it into a business. I market for people’s companies and go to events where they pay me anywhere from 10 to 20 thousand dollars a weekend,” said Jamie.
“All because of this condition, I got to meet so many celebrities. And what’s really funny is that they actually come up to me and ask me for photos. They know me before I see them,” he continued.
Although he didn’t want to elaborate any further, Jamie did say that his condition sometimes makes him stick to things he doesn’t want to get stuck to…!
Despite this inconvenience, Jamie is incredibly proud to possess such an uncommon ability.
“I always thought I’d be famous for my artwork or stuff like that. But to be famous like this is even better because Guinness World Records made me around the world,” said Jamie.
“Everybody’s recognizing me and it’s pretty amazing to have that accomplishment in my life.”
