# @upmchealthbeat on Instagram - **Type:** Image - **Original URL:** https://www.instagram.com/p/CxVuTd5O3cG - **Gondola URL:** https://gondola.cc/posts/8714353-upmchealthbeat-instagram - **Thumbnail:** https://img.gondola.cc/tr:w-,h-,fo-auto/thumbnails/c3bf9fe0a0.jpg - **Posted:** 2023-09-18T16:12:29.000+00:00 - **Account Owner:** UPMC (@upmchealthbeat) — https://gondola.cc/upmchealthbeat ## Caption Julian Cann’s road to better health came from within. Born with sickle cell disease, Julian went through a series of ups and downs in his early life. He hit a low point in 2013, around the time of a breakup. At the time, Julian wasn’t eating nutritiously. He wasn’t exercising enough. He wasn’t living a healthy lifestyle. All those factors can cause symptoms – with severe pain the most common – or other health complications in people with #SickleCellDisease. Rather than continue down the same path, Julian decided to make a change for the better. “I just knew that I had to change that, and I had the opportunity,” Julian says. “So I just started slowly changing my diet, started changing the foods I ate. … I just started learning about better ways to live and start practicing, and then once I started seeing the benefits, I just kept going with it.” Nutrition and exercise became one outlet. Music was another, a way for Julian to channel his pain into something positive. Today Julian is a well-known western Pennsylvanian rapper, and he works at the Children’s Sickle Cell Foundation. He works to spread awareness about the disease and how it can be managed and overcome. “It started off so much of a curse, and now it’s just so much of a benefit in my life,” Julian says. “It’s kind of crazy. So many different good things coming from it. I would’ve never thought it would be like that.” Read Julian's story at the link in our bio. #50Phenoms #SickleCellAwareness ## Stats - **Views:** 0 - **Likes:** 6 - **Shares:** 0 - **Comments:** 0 ## Tags sicklecelldisease, 50phenoms, sicklecellawareness --- Copyright (c) Gondola