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Keep climbing.
It's a simple phrase; but for one cancer survivor, it's his life metaphor. It is a simple two-word summary of what he's accomplished and continues to do. He says he keeps climbing to give everyone touched by cancer hope.
Sean Swarner reached Denali's summit this past summer. When you add Denali to this guy's remarkable resume, it marks all seven continents' highest peaks he's reached. This is in addition to reaching the top of Mount Everest. Impressive is an understatement, by any standard. But what Swarner is most proud of is his "Cancer Climber" title. He's the only cancer survivor, in history, to accomplish this.
"I was playing basketball. Going in for a lay up. Something snapped in my knee. And that triggered every bone in my body to go haywire. Every joint in my body swelled up. I looked like the Pillsbury Doughboy. It turned out to be advanced forth stage Hodgkins Lymphoma. And the doctors, when I was 13, gave me three months to live," said cancer climber, Swarner.
But Swarner refused to let a horrible lymph node cancer kill him. He infused his teenage body with the most aggressive treatments. The side effects were horrible. On top of that, Sean was
"...someone who just decided to gain 70 or 80 pounds. Be overweight. Bald from head to toe. It was a popularity contest. And I wasn't very popular, because I didn't fit in very well," said Swarner.
But he eventually did. In remission, he excelled as an athlete. But ten months later, his doctor found another, extremely rare cancer during a routine checkup: a golf ball-sized tumor in his right lung--only affecting three out of every one million people. This time, he was given two weeks to live.
"I got up out of the bed, grabbed my little buddy, the IV pole, kind of waddled up to the door. And I remember my mom asking the doctor, 'Is it cancer again?' And he said, 'Yes.' And that's all I had to hear. And I waddled back to the bed. Buried my face in the pillow and started crying," said Swarner.
"I think it lasted for a couple days. And then realized, 'Look I have it. I don't care what it is. I'm going to beat it,'" said Swarner.
And he did.
As the remission years went by he knew he wanted to dedicate his life to giving cancer patients hope.
"I wanted to give something back and let people know you can do some truly amazing things, if you put
And so he did.
This summer, June 19th to be exact, after three tries, he finally reached Denali's summit. In that moment, after spending four years summating Africa's Kilimanjaro, Europe's Elbrus, South America's Aconcagua, Australia's Kosciuszko and Antarctica's Vinson Massif, Swarner became the first cancer survivor to reach every single continent's highest point.
"Every mountain I've climbed I haven't been alone. Every single mountain, every person in the world touched by cancer's been with me. They've been my hope and inspiration. And I hope to give that back to them," said Swarner.
Each time he carried a flag with him. It was literally full of hope. Thousands of names touched by cancer are now buried on each summit.
"It says, 'Dedicated to all those affected by cancer in this small world. Keep climbing,'" said Swarner.
"Just like the bracelet here, no matter what your obstacle, no matter what mountain you're going against, you always keep climbing," said Swarner.
Swarner and his brother head up the Cancer Climbers Association. They give grants to other cancer survivors so they can live out their dream, or as Swarner puts it:
- "Climb their own Everest."
He has some big projects in the works that include: bringing a mobile rock climbing camp to cancer patients at hospitals across the country and running the Iron Man.
Next year: the big one.
He wants to make the two-month trek up to the North Pole.
To contact Matthew, call 907-273-3186.
