212: Sean Swarner Podcast

In today’s episode of ‘Finding your Summit’ podcast, host Mark Pattison, former NFL Player, Entrepreneur, Philanthropist and Mountaineer who climbed the Seven Summits, talks with guest Sean Swarner (Speaker | Author | Performance Coach | Adventurer | World Record Holder) — a cancer survivor and the only person in history to climb the highest mountain on every continent, trek to the South & North Poles, and complete the Hawaii Ironman. Sean talks about his personal and professional journey of climbing the summits.
Listen to “EP 212: Cancer Survivor Sean Swarner” on Spreaker.

Episode Highlights

• 01:30: – Mark introduces guest Sean Swarner and asks him about his experiences and journey of overcoming the odds when he was a young kid (13-16 years).
• 04:44: – Sean says that what helped him to focus on the positive aspects of life instead of the negatives is that each day he went to bed being grateful for everything he was able to accomplish.
• 06:54: – He states he was in a medically induced coma for a year so he barely remembers being 16 years old.
• 08:47: – Sean tries to answer Marks question: “Why did you survive?”
• 10:29: – Mark inquires if there was a defining moment that he was going to shift from point A to point B — or it’s simply like he just survived it.
• 12:55: – Mark mentions that before he got into climbing 19 years ago, he went through a really bad patch in life, but when he looks at it now, it is the absolute gift of getting into climbing, podcasting and talking to some amazing achievers.
• 14:34: – Sean talks about Explorers’ Grand Slam / Adventures’ Grand Slam.
• 17:20: – Mark asks Sean about how he prevents polar bears from coming in because they are predators and can kill him.
• 19:40: – Sean answers the question about how he manages to go from point A to point B across the water when there is no way to cross because it has broken away.
• 22:04: – He reveals that now whenever he breathes, he utilizes the entire capacity of his left lung.
• 24:40: – Mark expresses that bad things do pass and good things stay, but you’ve got to write it down and you’ve got to get to the other side.
• 26:22: – Mark asks, “So tell me about the charity that you’re involved in and what you’re trying to accomplish?”
• 28:30: – As per Sean, the true life changing alterations happen when you can empower someone and when you can make someone believe in themselves again.
• 30:36: – Sean points out that he has always been pushing the odds and he honestly thinks he is more afraid of not living than of dying.
• 32:13: – Mark mentions that the reality is that there are a lot of people out there that are stuck and if there’s any way that we or anybody else can help get them unstuck and get them to realize their true potential, that’s what it is all about.

3 Key Points

1. As per Sean, it was a cumulative effect of utilizing the compound effect one day after another, getting stronger and stronger because he doesn’t think anything really happened overnight, except for the treatment and diagnosis, because the diagnosis instantly changed his perspective.
2. According to Sean, he can tolerate things a lot better than most people because of what he has been through and sees it as a blessing. He mentions that cancer was the worst thing that’s ever happened to him, but at the same time, it’s the best thing that’s ever happened to him.
3. Sean says that the true life changing transformation happens when you can empower someone, hence he tries to give back to the cancer families as much as possible through charity with the help of his Cancer Climber Association. Every year, they pay for a survivor’s trip to go up to Kilimanjaro.

Tweetable Quotes

“I was reading your story and I was just, my mouth was wide open, and yet it’s just another example of people with an amazing human spirit.” – Mark Pattison

“I went to bed with an attitude of gratitude looking back, because like I said, closing my eyes let everybody be terrified.” – Sean Swarner

“Oh my God, I’ve got to go through this whole day again. I mean, what was that like?” – Mark Pattison

“So I think that it was just as you said. It was kind of turn the page, hit the restart button.” – Sean Swarner

“But when you’re in it, sometimes it doesn’t seem like there is a way out.” – Mark Pattison

“Also, fortunately, I also accomplished the Hawaii World Championship Hawaii Ironman.” – Sean Swarner

“Yeah, I’ve said this a number of times, which I really feel is so that you have to train a strong body to have a strong mind, I don’t think it works the other way around.” – Mark Pattison

“We’ve never been to the top of any significant peak without a team.” – Sean Swarner

“It’s ironically called the Cancer Climber Association.” – Sean Swarner

“If you asked me about the next challenge — I recently got married — I heard that’s pretty difficult.” – Sean Swarner

“Because sometimes people just need to believe that more is possible.” – Sean Swarner

 

Resources/ Links
Sean Swarner Website