Sean Swarner, a survivor of Hodgkin's lymphoma at age 13 and also Askin's sarcoma a year later, has scaled several mountains including recently Mount Everest. He is setting his sights on becoming only the fifth person in history to accomplish the so-called "adventure grand slam." This involves climbing to the top of the tallest mountain on each of the earth's seven continents and trekking to both the north and south poles.
"Most of the outfitters told me that there's no way they'd take a one lung, two-time cancer survivor lunatic up the highest mountain in the world," he said. On Everest, he faced 100 mph winds, snowstorms, deadly avalanches, and a significant loss of oxygen -- hazards that challenge even the most accomplished climbers. "And the sherpas were kind of scared too because in Nepal there's no such thing as a cancer survivor," he said.
But for Swarner, taking on Everest was a lot like fighting cancer. "Everyone has their own Everest to climb. And everyone is battling their own mountains and fighting cancer and going through the treatments is an uphill struggle," he said.
Swarner is the only known cancer survivor to have reached the summit of Mount Everest.
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