Nov 07, 2008 - 04:05:20 CST
Bismarck Tribune
By SARA KINCAIDBy SARA KINCAID
There's always a moment that defines a person's life.
At 13 years old, a leg injury upturned Sean Swarner's life.
"I snapped my knee," he said. "Little did I know my life would change forever."
He had an advanced form of Hodgkin's disease. No sooner did he recover from that, than he was diagnosed with a rare type of lung cancer, Askin's sarcoma.
He shared his experience as a two-time cancer survivor at the University of Mary Healthcare Institute on Thursday.
With a bleak diagnosis - doctors gave him two weeks to live when diagnosed with lung cancer - he persevered.
"It's like winning the lottery four times in a row with the same numbers," he said.
This experience gave Swarner, 33, a purpose in life, but how he would define it took time. At first, he thought he'd study molecular biology, so that he could find a cure. Then, he decided to use his experience to help others, by being a psychologist for cancer patients.
"I realized it would be too emotional to go through every single day," he said. It would be too much to have a patient not show up because he or she died, Swarner said.
That's when he started thinking of ways to inspire hope in other cancer patients. He decided, with the help of his brother, to climb Mount Everest, which a cancer survivor had never done. Eventually, he would summit the highest peak on all seven continents. He finished this last summer when he climbed Mount McKinley in Alaska.
He showed the audience at Arno Gustin Hall, which was filled to capacity, the details of his journey up Everest. The pictures of camp, the ice fields and ladders crossing crevasses showed the trials of mountaineering the tallest mountains. He likened the back and forth from camps and base camp for acclimation to that of cancer treatment. Base camp was like the good days.
He raises money through his expeditions. Someday it will pay for a mobile campground for children with cancer. He envisions a high ropes course, movie theater and tents, among other activities.
Also part of the healthcare Institute was the 2008 Schafer Excellence in Health Care award given to Dr. Nick Neumann, a pulmonologist and critical care physician in Bismarck.
To learn more about Swarner's story, visit www.seanswarner.com or www.cancerclimber.org.
(Reach reporter Sara Kincaid at 250-8251 or sara.kincaid@;bismarcktribune.com.)
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