Cancer Survivor Scales World’s Highest Peaks

Sean Swarner equates the extreme physical challenges of mountaineering with the battle against cancer.

Sean Swarner is lucky to be alive, and not just because he lives dangerously, scaling the world’s highest peaks. The 29-year-old mountaineer is a two-time cancer survivor who defied doctor’s predictions that he would succumb to his disease.

When Swarner was 13, he was diagnosed with Hodgkin's disease, a lymphoma that uncommonly affects anyone under the age of 20. He was given three months to live. Two years later, he was diagnosed with Askin's sarcoma, a pediatric tumor affecting the chest wall and ribs. The prognosis for this disease, with a survival rate of 30%, was even worse; the doctors gave him only two weeks to live! Again, Swarner survived. By the time he was 18, Swarner was cancer-free and fit, winning his high school’s track meet in the 800-meter race.

Swarner is living proof that despite the worst prognosis, there is hope for cancer patients and their families.

“Frankly I don’t know why I’m alive,” Swarner says. “ But I’m incredibly grateful for the life I have. Somehow I found the inner will to get up and out of that hospital bed. My message is that people should really enjoy every moment they’ve been given. You have one chance—make the most of it.”

As an undergraduate at Westminster College in Pennsylvania, Swarner pursued his interest in molecular biology and immunology, endeavoring to understand how his body might have combated his cancers. It was a psychology class, however, that affected him most. “ I did a study looking at the relationship between optimism and the quality of life of cancer patients,” he says. He earned a master’s degree in psychology in Florida, and was accepted to a doctoral program for psycho-oncology in Chicago.

“I knew I wanted to help people cope with cancer, but I decided to take a sabbatical from my studies and find another way to touch cancer patients,” Swarner says. “When I was going through all that stuff as a teenager, hugging the toilet and finding hunks of hair on the floor of the shower, my friends were collecting baseball cards and chasing girls. They all had heroes and role models, but I didn’t know anyone who had been where I was. I decided that if I could climb Mount Everest, I could provide some inspiration to other young people going through those dark times.”

On May 16, 2002, at 9:32 a.m., Swarner became the first (and still only) cancer survivor to climb Mt. Everest. Since then, he has reached the summits of Kilimanjaro and Elbrus, the highest peaks in Africa and Europe, respectively. His goal is to climb the highest mountain on each continent, and then trek to both the North and South Poles. If he is successful, he will join an elite group of 100 mountaineers worldwide.

On each of his climbs, Swarner has planted Cancer Climber Association flags at the peak, to commemorate the uphill struggle of cancer patients around the globe. They read: “Dedicated to all those people affected by cancer in this small world. Keep Climbing!”

“I hope people get some inspiration from this and realize that nothing's impossible,” Swarner wrote to friends and supporters back home before his Kilimanjaro ascent. “I know everyone has his own proverbial mountain to climb and I hope that when people see someone out here doing the actual physical climbing of spectacular mountains they recognize that they can also plan goals, dream big and never give up hope.”

Before tackling Mt. Everest, Swarner happened to visit the Bhaktapur Cancer Center in Nepal, where INCTR assists with cervical cancer prevention programs. “While I was there, the doctors told patients there that I was a two-time cancer survivor, and that I was leaving the next day to climb Mt. Everest. Their faces just lit up. I know I provided them some hope that they could survive cancer too.”

When Swarner is not training in Colorado’s Rockies for his next climb, he is giving motivational talks or organizing fundraisers to benefit children with cancer. He and his brother operate Cancer Climber Association to raise money to support summer camp outings and other wilderness adventures for youngsters. The fundraisers themselves are typically outdoor activities—foot races, wall climbing, bungee jumping, whitewater rafting—that encourage active lifestyles.

In conjunction with his next expedition to Alaska’s Denali, the highest peak in North America, Swarner is planning a fundraising challenge to fitness buffs willing to climb 20,000 feet on a Stairmaster in their local gym. The knowledge that other climbers are behind him will be helpful as he makes the ascent, but Swarner admits he gets his true inspiration from those who can’t leave their beds.

“I’ve seen death,” he says, “and I know that if you don’t take chances, you’re not really alive. We’re put on this earth to experience as much as we possibly can. I want to live my life with no regrets, in the knowledge that anything is possible.”

For more information about past expeditions and upcoming events, or to invite Swarner to give an inspirational presentation to your organization, visit www.CancerClimber.org, or call 720-890-2716.

Marcia Landskroener for INCTR