[{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org\/","@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/share-dev.upmc.com\/2020\/01\/julian-story-50ph\/#Article","mainEntityOfPage":"https:\/\/share-dev.upmc.com\/2020\/01\/julian-story-50ph\/","headline":"Ryan Shazier’s 50 Phenoms: Rapper Battles Sickle Cell Disease With Diet and Exercise","name":"Ryan Shazier’s 50 Phenoms: Rapper Battles Sickle Cell Disease With Diet and Exercise","description":"Julian Cann\u2019s road to better health came from within. Born with the blood disorder 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\u2019t eating nutritiously. He wasn\u2019t exercising enough. He […]","datePublished":"2020-01-02","dateModified":"2023-04-17","author":{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.upmc.com\/","name":"UPMC","url":"https:\/\/www.upmc.com\/","sameAs":"https:\/\/share-dev.upmc.com\/upmc\/","parentOrganization":"UPMC"},"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"UPMC HealthBeat","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"https:\/\/share-dev.upmc.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/UPMC-HealthBeat-Logo.png","url":"https:\/\/share-dev.upmc.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/UPMC-HealthBeat-Logo.png","width":600,"height":60}},"image":{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"https:\/\/share-dev.upmc.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/Julian.jpg","url":"https:\/\/share-dev.upmc.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/Julian.jpg","height":1125,"width":2000},"url":"https:\/\/share-dev.upmc.com\/2020\/01\/julian-story-50ph\/","about":["Fitness","Living and Wellness","Nutrition","UPMC Stories"],"wordCount":1708,"keywords":["Ryan Shazier's 50 Phenoms","Ryan Shazier\u2019s 50 Phenoms Season 1"],"articleBody":"Julian Cann\u2019s road to better health came from within.Born with the blood disorder 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\u2019t eating nutritiously. He wasn\u2019t exercising enough. He wasn\u2019t living a healthy lifestyle. All those factors can cause symptoms \u2013 with severe pain the most common \u2013 or other health complications in people with sickle cell disease.Rather than continue down the same path, Julian decided to make a change for the better.\u201cI just knew that I had to change that, and I had the opportunity,\u201d Julian says. \u201cSo I just started slowly changing my diet, started changing the foods I ate. \u2026 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.\u201dNutrition 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\u2019s Sickle Cell Foundation. He works to spread awareness about the disease and how it can be managed and overcome.\u201cIt started off so much of a curse, and now it\u2019s just so much of a benefit in my life,\u201d Julian says. \u201cIt\u2019s kind of crazy. So many different good things coming from it. I would\u2019ve never thought it would be like that.\u201d\u2018A High Burden\u2019Sickle cell disease is a group of blood disorders caused by mutated hemoglobin, a molecule found in red blood cells. The abnormal hemoglobin can cause the usually disc-shaped red blood cells to mutate into the shapes of crescents, or sickles. This can keep red blood cells from performing their usual duty of carrying oxygen through the body, causing severe pain and other symptoms.It\u2019s an inherited disease that affects about 100,000 people in the United States \u2013 including many Black Americans \u2013 and millions worldwide. Complications from the disease include strokes, infections, blood clots, organ damage and failure, and much more.\u201cThe disease tends to cause a number of complications,\u201d says Dr. Enrico Novelli, MD, a hematologist and oncologist and medical director of the UPMC Adult Sickle Cell Program. \u201cIt\u2019s responsible for difficulty with achieving milestones in childhood. It also is associated with delayed milestones with limited or intermittent schooling. It is associated with difficulty of finding successful employment. There are of course relationship issues, there are cognitive concerns.\u201cIt is a disease that carries a high burden.\u201dEvery American state and Washington D.C. now require screening for sickle cell at birth because of the severity of the disease. Julian wasn\u2019t diagnosed until he was 3 years old, but the disease caused him trouble throughout his childhood.\u201cA sickle cell crisis can mean your arm, legs, head, feet,\u201d Julian says. \u201cWherever in your body that has blood cells, you can have sickle cell crisis. So it affects a lot.\u201dBecause extreme temperature changes can cause sickle cell pain crises, he can\u2019t go swimming. Strenuous exercise also can trigger symptoms or complications, so that took sports away.Julian had his gallbladder removed \u2013 gallstones are a complication of sickle cell disease \u2013 and spent other significant periods in the hospital, including a two-month stretch in high school.It affected his physical and emotional well-being.\u201cI had a lot of frustrations,\u201d Julian says. \u201cJust imagine my brothers come visit me in the hospital, and they get to go home and go to school and see girls every day, and I\u2019ve got IVs in my arm, in pain, and they don\u2019t have to do that. I had suicidal thoughts and all kind of stuff. I used to miss a lot of school. I didn\u2019t go to prom because of sickle cell. I didn\u2019t even graduate high school because of sickle cell.\u201cNow, I can\u2019t blame it on that. Those are the reasons, but I decided to get my GED and just move on with life. But there was a lot of different things that I went through.\u201d\u2018Music Gave Me a Voice\u2019While he couldn\u2019t play sports or do anything too physical, Julian discovered a talent that sickle cell couldn\u2019t take away: music.A fan of rappers like Jay-Z, Nas, The Notorious B.I.G., and Tupac Shakur, Julian began writing his own lyrics. And the severe pain he often felt because of his disease actually helped him.\u201cI used to be in this state of mind where my pain agony, I used to come up with some of the craziest stuff just as a kid,\u201d he says. \u201cI would come up with stuff that grown men should\u2019ve been thinking of, and that\u2019s what made my rhymes even better. I got to tap into a different energy that my pain, I think people could feel it in a different way.\u201dOnce he reached high school, he started performing. He went to rap battles, or performed on the side, and \u201cpeople just went crazy,\u201d he says.\u201cIt started getting to a point like at school, people would start coming around and just start requesting that I rap,\u201d he says.While he was a shy kid growing up, music helped Julian come out of his shell.\u201cMusic gave me a voice,\u201d he says. \u201cWriting gave me a voice. When I was young, people really didn\u2019t want to hear too much about what was going on. But when I would write, people would tap in.\u201cI 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. I might not have been the best guy working with my hands, but I could use my brain to come up with creative things.\u201d\u2018The Right Direction\u2019Music helped Julian, but it couldn\u2019t make his disease go away completely.There is a cure for sickle cell disease \u2013 a stem cell or bone marrow transplant. However, it requires a strong blood match between donor and recipient. The procedure also carries significant risk, including death. Because of those issues, many people can\u2019t get a sickle cell cure and instead must learn to live with the disease.\u201cIt\u2019s important to remember that not everyone is affected in a similar way,\u201d Dr. Novelli says.People living with sickle cell disease need to stay up to date on office treatment, vaccinations, and medication. They should do their best to avoid pain triggers, including demanding workouts or extreme weather conditions. Staying hydrated and keeping a healthy, balanced diet are important.Julian wasn\u2019t doing that, even as his disease flared up from time to time.\u201cThe thing about sickle cell, it doesn\u2019t really affect you until it affects you,\u201d Julian says. \u201cIf you had asthma, everything\u2019s good until that attack comes. And that would come every season. Every time the weather changed, I would get sick or whatever.\u201dAnother serious pain crisis put Julian in the hospital for more than a week in 2009. But even after that, he went back to an unhealthy lifestyle.It all changed in 2013 when Cann decided to make his health his top priority. He said people tried to give him health advice before, but he finally took it to heart. He started reading about healthy diets and exercise and began practicing it. He cut soda pop out of his diet, switching to water. He began working out.Slowly the changes began having an effect.\u201cEverything I learned was on my own, and that\u2019s why it was better like that,\u201d he says. \u201cI\u2019m not really good at people telling me what to do anyway. Once I learn, and once I know that something\u2019s going to benefit me, I\u2019ll be steered in the right direction.\u201d\u2018Just Stay in the Fight\u2019Julian began taking his music seriously at around the same time as his health. He released his first official mixtape, J.U.L.E.S, and the 34-year-old continues to write and record today.\u201cIt helps me a lot that I even have a voice that I could get on a song and put it out and even 300 people listen to it and comment on it,\u201d he says. \u201cIt\u2019s very therapeutic.\u201dJulian also works for the Children\u2019s Sickle Cell Foundation, calling himself an advocate. He said he wants to raise awareness of the disease and how it can be prevented and cured.Sickle cell disease is an inherited disease. Both parents must have abnormal hemoglobin, and at least one parent must have the sickle cell trait.\u201cYou can actually stop people from getting sickle cell with awareness,\u201d Julian says. \u201cIt might take 1,000 years or whatever, but it could actually work.\u201dHis everyday life is normal: working at the foundation, visiting with his mother and walking her dog, going to the gym, eating healthy.Julian said he didn\u2019t set out trying to become an inspiration. But he knows his story and his music have made him a role model for kids. He hopes to continue his advocacy and spreading the word about sickle cell disease. He wants to write a book on nutrition geared to all people, not just those with sickle cell.Above all, he advises people to stay educated and control what they can with their sickle cell disease, the same way he did.\u201cMy mindset is, just stay in the fight,\u201d he says. \u201cAs long as I\u2019m here breathing, I wake up every day. Everything will be all right. The one good thing about sickle cell, it teaches you a lot about perseverance because you go through a lot of pain and agony and suffering. But for me it always got better. I never stayed like that.\u201cSo it just teaches you, you\u2019ve got to be able to live through certain obstacles, and when you make it through, you\u2019ll be all right. There\u2019s light at the end of the tunnel.\u201dEditor's Note: This video was originally published on January 2, 2020, and was last reviewed on April 14, 2022."},{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org\/","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"2020","item":"https:\/\/share-dev.upmc.com\/2020\/#breadcrumbitem"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"01","item":"https:\/\/share-dev.upmc.com\/2020\/\/01\/#breadcrumbitem"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"Ryan Shazier’s 50 Phenoms: Rapper Battles Sickle Cell Disease With Diet and Exercise","item":"https:\/\/share-dev.upmc.com\/2020\/01\/julian-story-50ph\/#breadcrumbitem"}]}]