Summits Podcast, Sean Swarner
[00:00:00] Daniel Abdallah: welcome back someone's 
[00:00:17] Sean Swarner: podcast. Today 
[00:00:19] Vince Todd: is a special day because we have possibly kind of the, the, the biggest fitting. 
[00:00:28] Sean Swarner: I would say, when you look at the, with the name, 
[00:00:30] Vince Todd: the name, the subject matter, the purpose kind of all ties together. I don't want to spoil anything, but yeah, I think you're right. I'm just saying, right.
Uh, welcome, Mr. Sean, Sean, Swarner sorry. Almost botched that one. Welcome to the summits podcast, sir. 
[00:00:48] Sean Swarner: Appreciate it guys. I know, I know it's like a tongue twister right there, but I've been used to, you know, I've, I've been saying my name for quite a while, so it kind of rolls off the tongue, but yes, Shaun's.
There you go, [00:01:00] 
[00:01:00] Vince Todd: Joan and I have known each other for a couple of years. Um, again, not, not gonna take away from me the story, but Sean was kind enough to join us at the uneven with heroes gala in 2018. Um, came out here to Indy from Colorado and spoke with the, uh, the folks in attendance at the gala. Uh, that was a good night.
Yup. Uh, I remember that quite well. I've got a little picture there from, from a few years back. We haven't changed a bit also with our MC there re quarter Passie. Oh 
[00:01:30] Sean Swarner: wait. We, we w we look a little bit better and I actually, that was the first time I've ever tied a bow tie. Thank you, 
[00:01:37] Daniel Abdallah: Google. Yep. Every year for the gala, I have to, I have to look it up.
I, I try to like, take it off and leave it where I can like, kind of like slip it back on. So I don't have to try and like, tie it again. Cause it's, it's always like my wife, whenever I'm trying to tie, she just like leaves the room. Cause it's so fresh. Yeah. It's not as simple as people think. Oh, it's not, it's not clip on one.
Should be more, more [00:02:00] socially acceptable. In my opinion, just do what you need to do to saying, do what you need to do. Mr. Cleveland. 
[00:02:07] Vince Todd: All right. Well, Sean and I were connected through a mutual acquaintance down in Atlanta, the ATL this time of year called hot Lana. Um, so T Scott, thanks again for that. 
[00:02:19] Sean Swarner: Um, Sean, 
[00:02:21] Vince Todd: what's, uh, we like to start things off July.
Um, here we are July 2nd today. Uh, but this will be released a little bit later is a sarcoma cancer awareness month. Uh, so, so with that, we're just going to start pulling that string early. And Sean, what is your cancer? 
[00:02:39] Sean Swarner: Wow. Well, I guess we're we're where do you want me to begin? Like when mom and dad got together and nine months later I came out or 
[00:02:46] Daniel Abdallah: maybe fast forward a little through that part.
It's alright,
[00:02:52] Sean Swarner: so, wow. I'll just, I'll just start when I was 13. Um, and I was I'll quickly go through it. Uh, ne uh, near [00:03:00] injury basically stuck me in the hospital when I was in the eighth grade. And, uh, that knee injury basically triggered everything else in my body to go incredibly haywire. And because of that, uh, they diagnosed me with advanced stage four Hodgkin's lymphoma.
So. Well, you know, when you're 13 years old or you're, you're looking at life a little bit differently, your hormones are kicking in. You're starting, you're starting to grow hair in unusual places on your body. You're, uh, you're at the beginning of your life and you, you think, you know, everything you think you're on, on, uh, uh, you're indestructible, but, uh, I was eventually 60, 70 pounds overweight ball from head to toe, no friends, because you know, it's a popularity contest as we now go in eighth grade, freshman year in high school.
And, um, I was gonna say no offense, but you know, people who are, who are bald just aren't tar too popular, but that seemed 
[00:03:55] Daniel Abdallah: like a personal, 
[00:03:57] Sean Swarner: wow. But, but when you're [00:04:00] 13 years old and you, you lose your hair, you PUC stick out like a sore thumb, you know? And, and it was, it was devastating. I had no hope I had, I had no future really.
But I went through about a year and a half of chemotherapy and I was placed back in remission. I had a wonderful, wonderful life, went back to being normal. And then, um, because of the first, well, because of the knee injury, they found the first cancer and because of the first cancer, they found the second cancer, which is, which is kind of crazy to think about it going in for checkup for the first one is when they found the second.
So in, in one day they found a tumor on an x-ray, but the size of a golf ball, right. Between my lungs and my ribs, um, they found a tumor on an x-ray. They did a needle biopsy where they threaded a needle, you know, like that back then, it seemed like a foot long was probably like, I don't know, five inches long, threaded it between my ribs to aspirate part of the tumor.
They removed another lymph node. They put in a Hickman catheter, they snapped open. My ribs, took [00:05:00] out the tumor, put a drainage tube and started chemotherapy and less than one. And the reason it was so quick was because the type of cancer I had was just incredibly aggressive and the prognosis is roughly 60.
I'm sorry. Yeah, 6%. So 94 out of 100 people die from this cancer. And it's basically a branch of Ewing sarcoma, which is asking sarcoma and no one's ever had Hodgkin's and Aston's before. And to my knowledge, they haven't had it since I was diagnosed. So the first cancer was 13. Second cancer was 16. So basically 13 to 18 years old, my attire teen years were robbed from me.
I think going to take pick, 
[00:05:43] Vince Todd: sorry. I think we have a pick of, uh, of this notice. This is around the 13 timeframe, whereas I would assume have that pop up here in a sec. 
[00:05:53] Daniel Abdallah: Oh 
[00:05:53] Sean Swarner: yeah. Yeah. I'd love to see it. Yeah. That's the first one. So I actually had in what's going [00:06:00] on there is, is it looking, looking at that still gives me nightmares?
I actually, um, I had an allergic reaction to one of the anti-nausea medication. And it, it rolled my eyeballs back in my head. It was a muscular reaction. My eyeballs flooded up and I couldn't even see. So I was, I was, I was blind numerous days going through the treatments because of, because of that. But after they figured out what it was, um, because it finally happened going into one of my, uh, Chemo treatment.
And I remember walking down the hallway and my eyeballs started rolling backwards and the doctors finally saw me like that where they had animals off was I was also wearing hard contacts at the time. So my contacts, my eyeballs to have their up my head. So when I finally sat down, the nurse came in and she's like, I've seen this before.
So my mom's like, well, you know, what, what basically, what the hell is going on with my first born? [00:07:00] No, he can't see he's blind. And she said that it was a muscular reaction created by or caused by one of the anti-nausea medications. And the only reason she knew that was because about two days beforehand, a lady came in with her husband, she was getting treatment.
She was on the same thing and she had a muscular reaction where she couldn't control her. So it was literally darting in and out of her mouth. So she couldn't talk, but her tongue was just going in and out in and out. Now she's like, what the hell is going on? So they get, they gave her a, a mild sedative to help her relax, like a muscle relaxing.
They did the same thing to me. My eyeball slowly came back down and I could see again. And w when they figured out what it was, I stopped taking that medicine. And I decided that I was not going to throw up. I was not going to get sick. And I didn't, I didn't take any more anti-nausea medicines when I was going through my first treatment, just because I decided up here, I was like, I'm done that's enough.
So then going through the, the, that, that [00:08:00] go through that second cancer is when I was diagnosed with asking sarcoma first time around, they told my parents, your first born son has three months to live. So I had an expiration date of three months. The second time around the doctors actually told my parents now you're I had an expiration date of 14 days.
So I was, I remember, I literally remembered, I very vividly remember laying in a hospital bed and amount of cloth came in, stood at the end of my bed and started reading the, my last rights they wanted to. Right. They want the hospital, wanted me to write out a living will and put me in hospice. And I remember looking at my mom thinking, cause I have a brother who's who's three years younger than me.
Yeah. Thinking about, well, you know, what the hell does the hospital want? I was like, I looked at my mom, like, isn't my brother going to get my hand me downs. Anyhow, like what's.
So the pastor did his thing. We argued with the hospital that I wasn't going to go into [00:09:00] hospice and I kept. No one step after another and finally ended up beating, asking sarcoma, but because the treatments were so harsh and no one's ever had those two together before they don't know us, they don't, they didn't know what was going to happen.
So they stuck me in a medically induced coma for a year. You know, I don't remember being 16. And because of, of, of what's happened, I go in once a year for a checkup, even, even now, you know, 30 years later,
[00:09:30] Daniel Abdallah: So, so they were, so they, you know, they, they showed up to kind of read you those rights and have you try and do that living well, where they, you still were getting medication and everything on that, they're just kind of had kind of made the decision of what was going to happen, even though 
[00:09:43] Sean Swarner: yeah. They gave up, they're like this, guy's not going to survive.
[00:09:49] Daniel Abdallah: I assume at 16, you just want to prove them wrong then also, right? 
[00:09:53] Sean Swarner: I think, yeah. I think the stubbornness came in, like, you know, your parents leave when you're, when you're younger, like, oh, you can't do that. I was like, yeah, watch me. I'm going [00:10:00] to make a half. Yeah. 
[00:10:02] Daniel Abdallah: Wow. 
[00:10:03] Sean Swarner: Wow. 
[00:10:04] Vince Todd: The first time he gave the priest, the 
[00:10:06] Sean Swarner: bird.
Yeah. I'm going to handle that's for sure. That's all right. We'll see you there.
Wow. So 
[00:10:17] Vince Todd: you're in a coma for virtually a year, pretty darn close. Then, then what, like what, what 
[00:10:24] Sean Swarner: led out of it? You know, I think through, through the treatments. So I went in you, you guys know how, uh, um, cycle works for chemotherapy. So for me, it was Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, then I'd be released from the hospital.
I would recover. And then I go back and Friday, Saturday, Sunday, Monday, that would be like one cycle, one treatment for me. And when I was out of the hospital, I looking back at, I kind of have, um, what alcoholics call a moment, like a moment of. So I kind of have little pieces of, of memories of when I was 16 [00:11:00] and what's crazy is even one year in a coma.
It, when, when you're, you're, you're not really remembering what's going on, your brain is still processing the information that it's receiving and it's still keeping those memories. The issue is the recall of those memories and the sense of smell is closest linked to me. And everywhere I go now I visit local hospitals and share my survivorship story with the patients.
And sometimes I'll be, I'll be talking to someone who's say 16, 17 years old, getting treatment, you know, getting the IV drip and I'll smell something. That'll trigger a memory and it's almost like PTSD. I'll be, I'll be just jolted. And I look at the whoever's with me. Like, I need to go back to the hotel, you know, I, I just need to deal with it.
I need a handle kind of process w what's going on. So. Looking back at it. What happened after that year? Know, I, I, again, one step at a time, I kept building myself back up to where I was [00:12:00] because before I was diagnosed, when I was 13, I was, I was, uh, I loved swimming. I was an athlete. I also ran I in high school.
I was a pole vaulter. I was in the 800. And then a year after I was placed in remission from the second cancer with my, I only have one functioning lung because of the radiation. I forgot to mention that. So with small detail, with one, my one lung a year after I was placed in remission, I actually won my high school's league track meet in the 800 meter run.
Wow. But it, but it wasn't just, Hey, you know, crawling eight feet from the hospital bed to the bathroom. So I didn't soil the sheets to boom, all of a sudden running two laps around the track and winning the. It was one step at a time I walked around the nurses station. I walked around the hospital. I walked around my neighborhood.
I started slowly jogging around the neighborhood. Just one step at a time, utilizing the compound effect to push myself a little bit more. 
[00:12:56] Daniel Abdallah: Wow. Yeah. [00:13:00] 
[00:13:00] Vince Todd: Attitude and overachieving kind of go hand in hand. 
[00:13:04] Sean Swarner: Yeah. Well, I th I think one of the, one of the biggest key factors of. That really helped was not comparing myself to others.
It was comparing myself to where I was yesterday. And I think that was instilled when, when I was a swimmer, like when I was five or six years old, you know, my favorite was, was a 25 meter restaurant. I'd swim one lap down the pool and mom or dad would always be there to pull me out. And they would also always ask me two questions.
One, did you have fun and two, did you do your best? Not, Hey, why did, why didn't you beat him? Why didn't you beat the. It was, did you have fun? And did you do your best? So then every time I got in the pool, I tried to beat the time that I had the last time it was in the water. So they taught me, I didn't have to be the best I had to be my best.
Yeah. And just push myself a little bit and comparing myself to myself. I am the bar of my own life. Hmm. That's good. Yeah. I like that. Yeah. [00:14:00] 
[00:14:01] Vince Todd: So are you, at this point when you won that track meet, was that what you're in high school? 
[00:14:07] Sean Swarner: That was probably 91 
[00:14:08] Vince Todd: 92. Okay. So you're saying your junior or senior year?
[00:14:11] Sean Swarner: That was my, that was my senior year here. Okay. So, 
[00:14:14] Vince Todd: so then what, uh, where, where did things 
[00:14:16] Sean Swarner: take you? Well, then I went to college, relive my high school years and turned into Belushi from animal house.
I was the epitome of a party animal. And I, I started off molecular bio thinking. I was going to cure cancer by splicing genes and everything, but it's, it's incredibly difficult to pass organic chemistry and immunology, if you don't open a book, minor details. Yeah. So I switched to psychology because I, I.
I, I knew and I firmly believed in the mind body connection and everything I went through. I wanted to help other people going through cancer because as, as we all know, it's not an individual disease. Every, [00:15:00] the whole family goes through it. And if you don't have family, it's your doctors. It's your support system, whoever it might be.
It's it's not just you. So I wanted to give that back and help other people maybe develop the right perspective. Maybe help them with certain tools, tips, whatever it might be. But. After college, you went to grad school and I couldn't help somebody else until I dealt with what I went through, because I never stopped to do the literal and proverbial stare in the mirror of, Hey, what w what, what did you just go through?
What does it mean to you? Because anybody who goes through cancer, anybody who goes through anything traumatic, you have a choice in how you want to come out on the other side. You, you can look back at it and think, oh, woe is me. I'm a such a sad person. Or you can come out and go from tragedy to triumph.
No, you can be the victim or you can be the Victor. It's entirely up to you. In any situation, you have a choice on how you want to see what you've been through. And I just, I just [00:16:00] never, never took the time to do that. I never took the time to actually think about how it impacted my life. So that's, that's when I decided, all right, well, I'm going to drop out of grad school.
Cause I went to grad school. I was going to get you, I was going to be a psycho oncologist, psychologist for cancer patients. And that's when I was like, okay, well I can't because I haven't helped myself yet. And I can't help others until I help myself. And if I try to I'd be doing them and injustice. So that's when, uh, he was looking at your signs someone's podcast.
That's when I came up with a crazy idea of climbing, you know, It's like, why not use logical, 
[00:16:38] Daniel Abdallah: logical next step? Yeah. 
[00:16:42] Sean Swarner: But why not? Why not utilize that as literally the highest platform in the world to give people hope. 
[00:16:49] Vince Todd: So you went straight, I mean, straight to Mount Everest, you were like, all right, we're not going to stair-step our way up to the us.
That's this is, 
[00:16:55] Sean Swarner: this is what I wanted. Um, no, I, I, I went from, cause I [00:17:00] went to grad school in Jacksonville, Florida, and I don't know too many mountaineers who live. Right. Because the actual, the, the highest point in Florida is the top of the four seasons hotel in Miami. So I don't think they would appreciate me going up and down the stairwell a thousand times a day.
So I moved to Colorado where I live now and I did something every day to train, to get my body adjusted to the altitude, to get my mind ready for the summit, push to move over, to go over to Nepal and, and go for this, this tremendous goal. So I literally trained myself to be an Alpine climber. 
[00:17:40] Daniel Abdallah: What? So I, yeah, I'm, I'm curious to know like what the steps were from making that decision to getting to the peak.
I'm sure. There's, it's quite the, quite the journey. 
[00:17:51] Sean Swarner: You know, it was difficult at first because every corporation I approached for sponsorship, they all thought I was, I was a [00:18:00] joke that let's just say, I'm approaching you guys. And you're, you're some CEOs at a corporation of in marketing or something like, Hey, you know, this, this, this is great.
This is Sean. Swarner I'm, I'm a two time terminal cancer survivor with one lung. And in 10 months I'm going to go climb Mount Everest. I need your help. Exactly. They're like, you're not here, man. They didn't think it was, they didn't even think it was physiologically possible to climb Everest with one long.
Yeah. So I didn't get any of that. And when I first moved, moved out here, my office was literally a payphone bank and the library, like I was living in the back of, out of the back of my Honda civic and I was camping in a tent for a couple months before I even found sponsorship to go. 
[00:18:49] Daniel Abdallah: Wow. 
[00:18:51] Vince Todd: What was the timeframe from when you decided you wanted to do is move to Colorado to get into a point where like, okay, th this things are in motion, this is now [00:19:00] going to 
[00:19:00] Sean Swarner: happen.
So when I moved, when I moved to Colorado, literally 10 months later, I was in Nepal. Wow. That's quick. Yeah. Yeah. Well, it, it, it's kind of like the same thing as looking back at the cancers, like you're going to die. No. Like you, you can't make it to the top of Mount Everest. Yeah, I am. You know, it's just that the whole idea of, of anything who, anyone who's attempting, something that initial thought of, of questioning or doubting yourself or the idea of, of confidence.
So whether you think you can, or you can't do something, you're absolutely right. You have to pay attention to that internal dialogue, and I'm not talking all this crazy voices in your head, you know, ignore those, you know, listen, listen to that. One-on-one that little gremlin on your shoulder, how you're talking to yourself because 80 to 85% of the day, it's it's negative thoughts putting yourself down, just stop it [00:20:00] and turn it around.
Can build yourself up. 
[00:20:02] Vince Todd: Sure. So putting, putting the corporate folks aside that you're trying to get sponsorship from, I assume you also started talking to. You know, experienced climbers in Colorado, just to kind of start educating yourself. What, what did they 
[00:20:16] Sean Swarner: say? So there's, there's a, um, a very well-known author who wrote a book about the 1996 disaster on Everest.
And I won't say who it is, but I'm sure you probably know. He said eight months is in Estes park. Does not a Himalaya does not a Himalayan climber make Sean won't be, Sean will probably die on the mountain. Most people, most people, even then they wouldn't even support me because they didn't want the liability.
Sure.
[00:20:51] Vince Todd: So take us through that, that experience, 
[00:20:55] Sean Swarner: the, the, the experience of, of like dealing with the negativity. Well, [00:21:00] not so much 
[00:21:00] Vince Todd: that, but just, you know, 10 months later, you said you were, you were in Nepal, carry us through that, uh, that time. 
[00:21:09] Sean Swarner: Yeah, getting, getting ready to head up. I mean, the, um, the, the Sherpas who are the local guides, basically the most amazing climbers that I've ever met in my life.
They were actually, um, anxious and scared to meet me. They thought they were going to see a frail, uh, fragile. Cancer survivor, as opposed to someone who'd been training and doing something every day for the past two, 10 months to get his body and mind in shape. So when they finally saw me that I was a healthy image of, of a climber, I suppose, um, they, they were happy, obviously.
They're like, oh, thank God. Um, but when we, when we got to base camp, I actually, um, so I, to be able to climb, I purchased us a. With national geographic. [00:22:00] So they were the only people who actually, who believed in what I was doing. And it was through an Everest organizer, an expedition company based out of Katmandu because no, no American companies would even look at me.
So I went straight to Katmandu and he was an org. He was organizing. His name was was organizing through peak promotion. Um, not . And on a permit, you can actually get seven people. So I bought a spot under their permit. They had one open and we had two separate trips. So we had, they had the national geographic trip at base camp.
And then there was me off to the side. So technically I was under their permit, but they didn't want to be responsible for me. Okay. And when we were going up and down the mountain up and down the mountain, they, they saw that. I was going with the Sherpas, you know, the same speeds of Sherpas, doing everything that Sherpas were doing.
I was [00:23:00] hauling my own gear, doing everything that we possibly could to help support them, because they were the ones who were going to be helped, who are going to be supporting me going up higher and the altitude. So when it came down to it, A couple of guys from Nat geo saw that I was actually strong enough to be doing it.
And there was one guy who said, you know, who told my brother? Cause he was at base camp, said that if there is a weather window, your brother's going to make it. And I think that's what we were waiting for. We were just, we were waiting for a weather window after we went up and down the mountain, you know, 15, 20 times.
It's it's insane. Cause we, we arrived at base camp, April 8th and I summited May 16th. So a lot of people don't understand how long it takes. Yeah. I mean, I don't know. Have you ever gone a month and a half without showering? I try not to. 
[00:23:50] Daniel Abdallah: I don't know if I'd want to disclose that if I did. 
[00:23:54] Sean Swarner: But that that's what it's like sleeping in a tent for month and a half was showering out of like a hot water bowl.[00:24:00] 
Maybe heat up some water in a fire. And you, you shower like a sitz bath almost. Yeah. So the whole, the whole trip, just getting over there was, it was, it was an ordeal, like I imagine. 
[00:24:15] Vince Todd: So 
[00:24:17] Sean Swarner: Maria, middle may now 
[00:24:20] Vince Todd: you summit ever. I can only imagine some of the things that were going through your head at that point in time.
[00:24:27] Sean Swarner: Yeah, it, I mean, this is summit night was just, was incredibly beautiful and, and. I know I mentioned this when we were, when we were together for the, uh, for the event, but I'll never forget it because it was in the middle of the night. We left camp four, there were four camps on the south side, um, base camp and then camp 1, 2, 3, and four.
So, so creatively named, um, But at at 26,000 feet is where we leave to go up to [00:25:00] 29,000. So we only have 3000 vertical feet to go, but because the air is so thin here in Colorado, let me, let me kind of paint the picture here in Colorado. I can do a vertical, a thousand vertical feet in 45 minutes to an hour.
Okay. Okay. Over there we only had 3000 vertical feet. We left at 10:00 PM. I summited at 9:30 AM the next morning. So yeah, exactly. And it's because every step you take and it's literally half a step, you sit there and then you breathe 10 or 15, 20, 30 times, and then you take another half step and then you breathe 15, 20, 30 times.
And I'm going up there with, with half my lung capacity. And there was, there was one moment when we were on the knife on what's called the knife Ridge where literally drops off three feet to my right side, two miles straight down into Tibet and a mile and a half on my left side, straight down to Nepal.[00:26:00] 
And I was bouncing up and down because I couldn't feel from my knees to my toes, I was completely numb. I thought I was going to lose both my, both my legs to the altitude and frostbite, but I remember being at them at that point. Where the sun started coming up. So it was probably like 5 30, 6 in the morning and looking straight out, it was like a sea of clouds with mountain peaks as islands.
And it was just the most beautiful sunrise was coming up. And I could see looking out when you're that high, the horizon is not flat. Yeah. I could see the curvature of the year. Yeah. And I looked over to my left side and straight out, literally without looking up were stars that I. That's cool. So my head was just going back and forth, you know, the most amazing sunrise on my right side, the stars at eye level over here.
And that's when I started tearing up knowing I was going to make it because the entire time I'm climbing, going up and down the mountain, I had a flag that was folded up in my chest [00:27:00] pocket, close to my heart. That was my purpose, my reason for getting, for, for making it to the top. And it had names of people touched by.
So when I got to the top, I, I collapsed to my knees, put my head in my hands and I D I wept like it, like an infant, pull that flag out, wrap that around the top of the world. And I realized that I wasn't the first PR first cancer survivor to climb Everest. We all were together. 
[00:27:25] Daniel Abdallah: Yeah.
[00:27:31] Sean Swarner: And then you had to go back down
the funny part, because climbing is a round trip sport. Most people don't realize that
[00:27:43] Vince Todd: once you got back down and, uh, you know, took it all in pot, took some time off, perhaps, maybe not. Then what then what'd you set your sights on? What, what, what, what made you decide? Okay. That was awesome. Now I'm going to go onto the next thing cause there [00:28:00] are several next things for you, 
[00:28:02] Sean Swarner: right? Well, after, after Everest, I think I got home.
Um, I relaxed for a little bit, you know, I, I, I lost 30 pounds in a month and a half. Okay. So I had to put that back on. Um, thank you. Beer and pizza.
Logically then I, uh, after a while, you know, you, you start to slowly forget the bad part, you know, all the miserable parts, all the, uh, the, the hurricane force winds, the numb fingers and toes, the altitude, the string, and you start remembering the good parts. And I think that's what I did. And I realized that there's something called the seven summits, which is the highest mountain on every continent.
And that's when I decided, okay, well, let's, let's go after that. You know, the next project. And I, I continued on with Kilimanjaro, which is the highest mountain in Africa, which I do every year as a fundraiser for a cancer charity. Um, and I'm leaving. [00:29:00] This will be my 21st summit of Kelly, um, in a couple of weeks Kilimanjaro, then Elbrus the highest mountain in Europe.
And then it continued on to, I think it was Aconcagua, which is the highest mountain in south of south America. Then. Antarctica, no Australia. And right now where I live in Colorado is I think 200 feet lower than the highest point in Australia. So I hope it wasn't too difficult. Then went to Antarctica then the north pole, or then, um, to a Denali up in Alaska.
So that was the seven summits. And on each one of those peaks, again, I had a flag that had names of people touched by. You know, whether someone has has, um, while they, if they're currently battling, uh, if they're a survivor or as we all know, unfortunately, people pass away and it, wasn't also like, um, uh, in memory of someone as well.
So I've always had a deeper purpose and a deeper [00:30:00] meaning for, for everything I'm doing. Right. How long, 
[00:30:04] Vince Todd: what was the time span? It took you to complete all 700. 
[00:30:08] Sean Swarner: I think I was six years because the Denali took me three attempts. I slid a hundred feet down a glacier once. Um, my first attempt we had more snow.
The next year we had more snow in two nights. Then the Alaska range did all winter. Um, I woke up and we were burying underneath like 11 feet of snow. Um, so we had to dig ourselves out. I mean, it was crazy because we would, we'd dug out our little campsite camp spot and then we kind of dug a trail to the next tent where we had our avalanche probes looking for tents because it looked, it was.
Cover. So we did, we dug out the other camp spot and then we dug a trail to the next camp spot, dug out that tent. And if you could look at it from an aerial picture, it was kind of like a cross section of an ant farm, right? Yeah. So then I, I find that then I finally summited on my third attempt on Denali.
So I think it was six years. [00:31:00] And then after that, I did also did the Hawaii Ironman in between there. And I also did the south pole, the north pole, and then all that together, the seven summits and the two poles is something called the explorers or the adventures grand slam, which I still, I didn't name it, but I still think it sounds like a Denny's breakfast.
[00:31:23] Vince Todd: That's crazy. So I think, uh, one of the photos that we have of you, uh, is I think it's from the north pole. I believe it's the one with snow and ice all over ya. Um, correct me if I'm wrong when this pops this one up, but I believe that's, uh, 
[00:31:38] Sean Swarner: yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So that's, that's the north pole going towards the north pole is probably, I know there's, there's no point of reference cause he can't sit anything behind me.
But I remember exactly when that was taken because there was a film company that went up and if you're in, if anyone's interested, it's um, true north, the Sean Swarner story on Amazon prime, phenomenal footage. But I [00:32:00] remember when he took that picture and I was just thinking, that's it, that's going to be the one.
What you see on my face? That is it. That's my breath. That's a humidity from my breath. So when I'm, when I'm moving forward and I'm breathing out, I'm actually walking into the moisture that came from my, my own lungs. And that's just built up over time. And there was one point where, cause it was so cold, it was 80 below.
And when I, when I blinked, it was so cold, my eyelashes froze together. I had to pull my right eye open at one point. Wow. You lost me at 80 below. Yeah. So people, people always say, oh, it's cold. I'm like, yeah. Coal is a relative term. Yeah. 
[00:32:42] Vince Todd: Yeah, exactly. Yeah. I've got to imagine. You've probably been asked us thousands of times, but you complete the seven summits.
What makes you decide? Oh, you know what? That wasn't enough. Let's let's do the iron man. Let's do both poles. I mean, Well, just [00:33:00] this constant drive to do more. 
[00:33:03] Sean Swarner: Well, I think for the Ironman, it was definitely, I remember being in the hospital. Um, I think it was, it was the first cancer. And I remember watching a guy may Mike pig, who was a triathlete.
And I remember he finished the, the Hawaii Ironman because I had a background in running. I had a background in swimming and I, I promised myself, I was like, if, if I survive, I'm going to finish that. No, it's the world championship iron man triathlon in Hawaii. It's always on TV. And I got, I actually got a media spot.
I didn't qualify for it. They gave me a media spot and it was my, I did a sprint triathlon, half Ironman, and then the Hawaii Ironman. So I've only done three triathlons in my whole life, but that was, I just wanted to do that one just to maybe to prove to myself that I could the 
[00:33:50] Vince Todd: king daddy of 
[00:33:51] Sean Swarner: trial. Uh, it was, it was awesome.
Compare it comparatively though. It was, it was quite easy compared to everything else. [00:34:00] 
[00:34:00] Vince Todd: You're one of the few that can say that. So I'll 
[00:34:02] Sean Swarner: take well, it's, it's different because as you heard, you know, Everest ever took a month and a half, that took me a letter and a half hours. I was done. So with, with, with the north and south poles, there's just something in the, in the adventure world called the explorers grand slam.
And I was like, all right, well, let's cap it off and do that. So I guess I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm I'm out there. I probably trying to be. I'm trying to give people some hope, because oftentimes when people are struggling, they just need that story to maybe hit them and have them believe, Hey, I, I can, I can get over whatever humps in my way.
I can overcome whatever challenges in my way. And maybe if I can plant that seed into people who are struggling right now, my life's been worth it. 
[00:34:57] Vince Todd: Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. How [00:35:00] many people, I assume they probably keep track of this, but how many people have actually completed the explorers grand slam? 
[00:35:06] Sean Swarner: I was number, I think 56, but yeah, but if you add in the Hawaii Ironman to it, there's one person in history.
Who's done it. Okay. Wow. 
[00:35:18] Vince Todd: And is it, is it safe to say of those 56 or maybe it's up to 65 now or whatever the number is that? How many are there, are there any other cancer survivors who have done that? Nope. 
[00:35:29] Sean Swarner: Okay. No cancer survivors. Cool. Cool. One, one, Kansas, whatever. Yeah. Well, awesome. Well, thank 
[00:35:38] Vince Todd: you. On behalf of all of the survivor nation for doing.
[00:35:42] Sean Swarner: I absolutely will not 
[00:35:44] Vince Todd: be attempting. 
[00:35:48] Sean Swarner: You could kill the jar with me every time. So 
[00:35:50] Vince Todd: that's a great segue. Great segue. So I know we have, we have another pick here and you'd kind of previously mentioned, you know, your Kilimanjaro [00:36:00] trips, but yeah, let's talk about today now. What, what, what does, what does Sean, Swarner up to these days and, and, uh, talk to us about this trip.
[00:36:10] Sean Swarner: Ah, that I actually took that picture last year. I was one of the very, very, very few people to take a group up Kilimanjaro because we were in the middle of the vid. And, um, we went over, we were the only people in the mountain, which was just spectacular. So Bravo camp is basically base camp. That's the last camp where you leave to go up to the summit.
The sun is behind you. The left on my right head, but left of that picture. Okay. Um, but I'm, I'm leaving again, July 20th, I think. And we're heading up the mountain, the 25th or something. Um, but this will be my 25th. Attempt on the side of Kelly. So I've been to the summit of the highest mountain in Africa, 20 times now, but every year we go, we take a flag again, that has [00:37:00] names of people touched by cancer.
And if you go to www dot Kili, hope.com Kelly like Kilimanjaro, K I L I www dot Kili, hope.com. You can add a name to the flag. And you can donate a dollar and add a thousand names, or you can donate a million dollars and add one name. It doesn't matter now because it's not about the money. It's about the people, but we do it every year.
And the average success rate on the mountain is 48%. So 52 people out of a hundred, don't even make it. However, my groups are at 98% success. Wow, can I, I think it's because we help people tap into their personal core values and their underlying meaning because when you have that meeting, then you find your purpose.
And with that purpose, you have passion. So on the flag, what we do is we print out a list of all the names and then at each camp, we all take turns, writing those names on the flag, and then the. That we take, [00:38:00] take carries it to the top. So with the cancer clamor association, we actually pay for survivors trip every year.
And then it's up to that cancer survivor to raise funds for next year survivor to go to on the, on the trip. So we're taking two survivors this year. Our goal is to have with those two people raise enough to take three next year and then so forth. And eventually I would love to take 15 survivors for free every year.
That'd be 
[00:38:21] Vince Todd: awesome. What is the size of the group that you typically. 
[00:38:25] Sean Swarner: Anywhere between six is the minimum I've taken 30 before. I'll never do it again. We're going to cap it at 15, probably 15 or 20 talks because it's amazing. People revert, like they're back in high school, you know, they, they form these little cliques.
I'm like guys go and, you know, talk amongst yourselves, go mingle. Yeah. 
[00:38:47] Vince Todd: And so you fly over on the 20th. W how long has the entire. 
[00:38:51] Sean Swarner: The entire trip. So let's say you wanted to go, you would prob you would get there the 24th or 25th. I don't have a calendar in front of me, 24 of the 25th. [00:39:00] Um, we have a day off head up the mountain, the 26, and then we have seven days.
Isn't the mountain come off the mountain, rest that night back in the hotel. And then we actually fly into their Serengeti for 40 safari. So the whole trip in another country is about 14 days. But 
[00:39:18] Vince Todd: you didn't sound like, and maybe this, this is my, you know, ignorance to climbing. I didn't hear any like one day of rest when you get there.
So there's no really any altitude, acclimation or anything like that. 
[00:39:30] Sean Swarner: Now we, we, we take our time. So Kilimanjaro is different than, than Everest because it's, well, first of all, it's two miles shorter, vertical it's two miles is down. So just 19,000 341, 42 feet. Um, the first day we, we go to the park gate, then, uh, then we hike up to camp.
The next day we go to Shira camp, then we're going to Barranco camp. Then we go to . Go to Uhuru peak, which is the [00:40:00] summit. And then we go down to either, um, a millennium or Micah camp, depending on how people are feeling. And then we give out. So it's you summit on the morning of the sixth, we go up and leave the evening of the fifth night summit on the sixth morning, come back down and out on the seventh.
We're back out. Wow. And you said 
[00:40:18] Vince Todd: the, the summit is 19,000. 
[00:40:21] Sean Swarner: Yeah, 19,000 341, 42 feet, but we take our time. And like I said, our success rate is double that of the mountains average. And that Mt. 
[00:40:30] Daniel Abdallah: Average that as that is, does weather often come into play with Kilimanjaro or is it mostly just people tapping out and saying I can't make it?
[00:40:38] Sean Swarner: I, I would say it's well, first of all, they're there on that mountain. And with most mountains, there is no such thing as bad weather, just bad. Okay. So I think it's it's because people tap out. They're like, I I'm, I'm done psychological. They can't handle it. Or it's the altitude and how you deal with [00:41:00] the altitude up that high is you pay attention to what you do down below.
So you slowly go up the mountain and I've utilized the same guides, the same porters, the same cooks, the same, everything for the past 20 trips up the mountain. And we're no longer treated like clients. We're treated like family. So they would call you guys Kaka, which I know in one language means something,
but in Swahili and the brother, so they would actually call you brother and other, the females, they call it data, which means sister in Swahili and their goal isn't to get us up and down the mountain as quickly as possible. Their goal is to have a great time. I mean, we're the only group on the. Singing dancing and having a wonderful time and telling jokes.
And I think, uh, the summit honestly becomes a by-product of having fun. Okay. Yeah. That's cool. That's awesome. Yeah. I think he's selling. I know. I think so. Yeah.
[00:41:58] Daniel Abdallah: I don't, I don't know if we could record [00:42:00] from up there might be kind of difficult, but we could try. And our engineer behind the scenes is that Chris. 
[00:42:10] Sean Swarner: I'll 
[00:42:10] Vince Todd: show you guys what to do cause I won't be there. 
[00:42:15] Daniel Abdallah: Wow. Okay, 
[00:42:16] Vince Todd: cool. So this, this July 20th, you're heading over. This is the 21st trips, or you can do shots at the top of your 20.
[00:42:25] Sean Swarner: Well, I have taken for the north pole, Johnny Walker, um, gave me a bottle of blue, right. And it was engraved Sean Swarner best served on ice. I'm like, that's cool. That's very cool. But oh, uh, a quick aside, a side note from that was the night that we were going to bed, getting ready for the morning of. Like the last seven miles that we knew we were going to make it that next day, going up to the north pole, I brought up, I brought the bottle out of my sled.
I looked at it, it was so cold. It was frozen. So [00:43:00] I had to take my hand, like extra hand warmers and wrap it in tape around the bottle of whiskey. I had to warm the bottle 
[00:43:07] Vince Todd: up to drink it. That is crazy. I mean, that shit's gotta be like 80 proof at least I would think. Yeah. And it froze. That's 
[00:43:17] Sean Swarner: so isolated.
Yeah. We, we have a little sip of some whiskey or, you know, a beer or whatever, whatever people bring up. Yeah. That's cool. Yeah. 
[00:43:27] Vince Todd: Well, um, I mean, that's, I feel so inadequate at 
[00:43:32] Sean Swarner: this point in time. 
[00:43:35] Vince Todd: What, uh, when you're not climbing Kilimanjaro, um, what's what's what's Sean, do. Just an average day. 
[00:43:44] Sean Swarner: Wow. And average day.
Well, I just, I just signed a, uh, another contract for, uh, another book. So I have another book coming out, probably September. Um, it's called, uh, the seven summits to success, conquering your Everest and I'm working on another one [00:44:00] called Kilimanjaro into the self. Um, and then it's going to be based on the seven summits that I've climbed, uh, I put together an online program called the big hill challenge because people have always asked me, um, you know, how, how, how have you been able to do what you do?
Like well, thinking about it, it boils down to my personal core values and having that underlying reason and knowing what I value most and putting my energy and attention into. Yeah. Like, like things like, um, family, personal growth, stuff like that. So I, I, I have, I put together a, a, a core values assessment so I can help people discover their personal core values.
And then I help them build into those through being mindful, um, utilizing the compound. Um, triggers, fear, anger, fear, and anxiety, things like that. So it's a, three-week ongoing challenge called the, the big hill challenge.com. It's actually pretty cool. And I've gotten some amazing [00:45:00] feedback. One lady said that she accomplished more in three weeks and she did in the past year and a half.
Um, yeah. Well, my, my first question was, well, what are you been doing for the past? But she she's hoping that she's just been through a lot. I was like, okay. That's, that's pretty cool. Um, And then I'm utilizing, uh, Kilimanjaro as an immersive coaching experience for a handful of people. And I'm putting that together right now.
There are a couple of websites that will be available in about a week. So I'm, I'm always looking for something and I got married two years ago, so that's probably the big challenge that, that I'm working on now, too. Yeah. 
[00:45:41] Vince Todd: You're still newlyweds two years. Come on, man.
[00:45:46] Sean Swarner: Well, that's awesome. Um, 
[00:45:49] Vince Todd: let's see. I typically like to part with this, um, if you, and I'm sure this happens fairly regularly for you, but when you approach, uh, folks who have been recently diagnosed, [00:46:00] um, I want to say a words of wisdom, but what, what do you usually instill in newly diagnosed 
[00:46:07] Sean Swarner: patients? I would say it has to be a sense of hope, you know, hope that, that there, and I don't mean like, hope that I'm just going to hope that everything's okay.
It's, it's understanding and hoping that there, there is something better because looking back at a cancer is probably one of the worst things that's ever happened to me, but it's one of the best things that's ever happened to me. Yeah, because it's given me a perspective that most people will, will never have no on, on life, on relationships, on success.
So anybody who just, who just recently got diagnosed, now look at what you have in your life. And every night don't go to bed, look focused on what you, what you couldn't do, what you can't do, what you're not able to do, be grateful for everything that you do have that you can accomplish that you did do that day and every night go to bed with an attitude of [00:47:00] gratitude because it'll change your life.
Well, sir. Yeah, 
[00:47:04] Vince Todd: well said, so are we missing anything? I think we've hit all the seven summits. We've been to both poles. Yup. And there's not much left. Um, we we'll put links and to all the, the videos, um, the true north, the book, the big hill challenge, all that fun stuff for our viewers to take a look. Um, yeah, I just want to thank you for your time.
I appreciate it. This is, this is round two for a long, uh, I'm gonna, I'm gonna owe you. And I have a funny feeling. I know what that's going to be.
[00:47:42] Sean Swarner: Well, we'll talk offline about that. Alright. This is great, guys. Really appreciate the opportunity and what you're doing is fantastic. Thank you very much. All right, 
[00:47:51] Vince Todd: Sean. Thank you. So your lovely bride, we said hello and good luck down to Kili this, uh, this month. Yep. Appreciate 
[00:47:59] Sean Swarner: [00:48:00] it. Appreciate it. Thank you.
All right, man, we'll 
[00:48:01] Vince Todd: talk to you soon. Take care. .