Book Review: Keep Climbing by Sean Swarner

I was recently at a loss for book recommendations and asked my wife what I should read. We talked about a couple topics I was thinking about, but then she said she knew a guy in college who had cancer as a child, got through it with only one working lung, climbed Mount Everest, and wrote a book about it.

I was dumbfounded. "How did you never bring this up before?!?!"

Sean Swarner's story is truly inspirational as well as terrifying. It's horrible to hear about any child with cancer - Sean had to battle it twice. He writes about the painful tests that were performed on him, the loneliness of the cancer ward, the sickening impact of the chemotherapy. He also dives deeper, discussing what it's like to be a kid in middle school with sudden weight gain and a wig who all the other kids think is dying.

The first half of this book is truly very sad, but Sean is able to battle back against his cancer and even resume athletics in high school before going away for college. After graduating, Sean wanders a bit before starting a foundation and settling on a goal: Being the first cancer survivor to climb Mount Everest.

Once the goal is set, Sean talks about the training (climbing every mountain in Colorado), the fundraising (cold-calling multiple companies a day), and sacrifices (spending part of his time living with his brother in a tent) necessary to make his expedition a reality. Once everything comes together, Sean details the Everest summit experience from soup (avoiding getting run over by motorbikes in Kathmandu) to nuts (planting a flag on the summit of Everest in honor of all cancer victims).

I can't stress enough how sad the first half of the book is, especially knowing how few children in Sean's condition do make it past their cancer battle (Sean's second bout with cancer had a 5% survival rate). But if you make it past there you're in for a very inspiring book about how far a person can go no matter what adversity they have to overcome. Recommended - eight out of ten hot dogs.