NEWS

Cancer survivor recalls conquering Mount Everest

Anna Jeffries
Reporter
  • Ohio native Sean Swarner spoke at Licking Memorial Hospital about his Everest climb.
  • Swarner is a two-time cancer survivor who climbed the peak with only one functioning lung.
  • He spoke at the hospital as well as Licking Valley and Watkins Memorial High School.

NEWARK — It was around breakfast time Tuesday morning, but that didn’t keep the staff of Licking Memorial Health Systems from presenting Sean Swarner with a birthday cake.

The tall cake, decorated with an edible sculpture of a mountain climber, was a present for Swarner’s 41st birthday on Wednesday.

The community members gathered in the hospital cafeteria for Licking Memorial’s corporate breakfast serenaded him with a rendition of “Happy Birthday.”

For the Willard native, every birthday is a celebrated milestone. Doctors told him, twice, that he wouldn’t survive his teenage years.

He spent Monday and Tuesday in Licking County, visiting Licking Valley High School, LMH and Watkins Memorial High School. At each location, he shared the story of his journey to become the first cancer survivor to climb Mount Everest.

“I just want to give people hope and inspiration,” he said.

Years before he climbed the highest mountain in the world, Swarner was a typical 13-year-old playing basketball. But after he injured his knee, doctors discovered he had stage 4 Hodgkin’s lymphoma and gave him three months to live.

He spent a year in treatment and walked out of the hospital cancer free, only to be diagnosed with Askin’s sarcoma a year later.

He went through treatments that were so intense he had to be put into a medically induced coma every time he went to the hospital. The radiation scarred one of his lungs so badly it stopped functioning. But he survived.

“My odds were the same as winning the lottery four times in a row with the same numbers,” he said. “I am a living, breathing, walking miracle.”

As he recovered, Swarner made the decision to live each day like it was his last. That inspired him to start an organization for children with cancer, The CancerClimber Association, and come up with the plan to climb Mount Everest.

He risked dangerous snow storms, deadly crevices and altitude sickness to get to the summit, but he continued to push through.

When he made it to the top, he placed a flag on the mountain that he dedicated to every cancer survivor in the world.

Since them, Swarner has gone on to climb the highest peaks in Africa, Europe, South America, Australia, Antarctica, and North America.

He also completed the Ironman World Championship in Hawaii and has plans to explore the North and South poles.

Swarner credits many of his accomplishments with his decision to stay positive and never give up. It’s an outlook he’s passionate about sharing with others.

“We all have problems and struggles to overcome,” he said. “The people who are successful in life are the ones who continue forward and keep climbing,”

Wherever he goes, he tries to inspire people to live their dreams and make a difference in the lives of others.

“We shouldn’t worry about dying. That’s going to happen to everyone eventually,” he said. “But we should worry about not living a life that has meaning.”

ajeffries@newarkadvocate.com

740-328-8544

Twitter: @amsjeffries