Two-time cancer survivor who scaled Everest gives patients new hope

When Sean Swarner was 13, he was diagnosed with cancer and given three months to live. He survived. When he was 14, he was again diagnosed with the killer disease and given 2 weeks to live. He survived. After he came out fighting from the 'hardest struggle' of his life, Swarner became the first cancer survivor with one lung to climb the world's highest peak.

38-year-old Swarner was detected with Hodgkins disease and later with Askin's sarcoma. Today, he has dedicated his life to give hope to patients suffering from cancer. "At the time that it happened to me the first question I asked myself was, "Why me?" But then the focus became to focus on trying to keep my life as normal as possible. I did not go from the bed to the mountain. I took baby steps, the effort was to keep moving forward. So my first goal was to go from my bed to the bathroom, and then to the outside. Every day was a struggle, the hardest struggle of my life. Once I made it, I wanted to help others who were going through the struggle and give them hope, so I studied psychology and now I counsel cancer patients," said Swarner.

Swarner's lucky charm was a T-shirt his father once bought him. When he reached Nepal while on his way to the expedition, he gave that T-shirt to a 14-year-old boy who was battling the disease, and asked him to give it to another patient when he survives the battle. Incidentally, the boy survived and passed it to another. Since then, more than 30 patients have worn that T-shirt and survived.

Swarner had come to share his story at the launch of 'Spandan', a self-financed cancer patients' support group by P D Hinduja Hospital and V Care Foundation on Friday. "The worst thing that ever happened to me were the two cancers that changed my teenage years entirely. But they were also the best thing that happened to me. They have helped me believe in myself, they helped me believe that I can fight any thing that comes my way," he said.