Sean Swarner - Cancer and 1 Lung Couldn't Stop Me - a podcast by Anthony Trucks

Welcome back to the Aww Shift Podcast! Our guest is a speaker and author, performance coach, adventurer, and world record holder. He has a 98% completion rate for people to go, does a whole lot to serve, and finds ways to raise funds for cancer. Today he will talk about his mountain journey and how cancer could not stop him from being unique. Let us know more about Sean Swarner and his incredible story.

 

[7:22] What record do you hold?

 

I'm the only person in history to climb Everest, the highest mountain on every continent, ski to both north and south poles, and complete the World Championship Ironman Triathlon in Hawaii. I achieved it all despite having two terminal cancers, a prognosis of three months to live, being in a coma for a year of my life, and I only have one functioning lung. I climbed Everest and did all those things with one lung. 

 

[7:52] What was your catalyst to do all of these?

 

I go through the two cancers at the ages of 13 and 16 years old. I developed a completely different perspective on life. I was worried about surviving. I wanted to use the world's highest platform to help the cancer community believe in themselves.

 

[10:05] What was the progression of all these things?

 

It was not easy as the first big mountain that I climbed was not Everest. It was finding sponsors, living on my money, and sleeping in the back of my car.

 

[14:25] What pushed you to do more?

 

Whenever you do anything that takes an extreme amount of effort, time, and energy, when you get home, you slowly forget about all the bad parts, and you remember all the good stuff. I remember the friends that I made. I also started thinking about what happened when I got to the summit of Everest. I just remembered being on the top.

 

[18:27] What are some of the lessons when giving your speeches?

 

I would tell people that I'm more afraid of not living than dying. I wish people would understand what I understand about life without going through what I went through. 

 

[20:20] You'd have to be more focused on what you want instead of avoiding what you don't, and consistency is more important than intensity.

 

[20:49] The last thing I want people to understand is that you have to believe it before seeing it.

 

[23:18] What is your ideal legacy in life? 

 

It kind of goes along the line of the concept that people will forget what you say, but they'll never forget how you make them feel. I want people to know that I made them feel empowered. I want them to know that I've always given them hope. And I've always been the ordinary guy from Midwest Ohio, who managed to accomplish something that no one has ever done before.

 

[27:46] What promise did God make to the world when He created you?

The promise would be that I would change the world, one person at a time, to have that hope and respect for one another. 

  

Key Quotes 

 

[09:25 – 09:30] “I wanted to use the highest platform in the world to help the cancer community believe in themselves.”

[13:04 – 13:20] “It is about enjoying the journey. It's about enjoying the process. And by just being on the mountain was a success for me.” 

[20:20 – 20:26] “You'd have to be more focused on what you want as opposed to the avoidance of what you don't.”

 

Learn more about Sean Swarner on: 

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/seanswarner/?hl=en 

Website: www.SeanSwarner.com 

Twitter: https://twitter.com/seanswarner?lang=en

LinkedIn : https://www.linkedin.com/in/seanswarner/ 

 

Further episodes of Aww Shift

Further podcasts by Anthony Trucks

Website of Anthony Trucks