Inspirational cancer survivor, adventurer to deliver CHEST 2025 keynote address

The way Sean Swarner sees it, when CHEST members go to work each day, they’re giving people like himself the opportunity to truly live—not just survive.

Swarner, a world record-holding adventurer, realized the importance of that distinction at 13 years old, when he was diagnosed with stage IV Hodgkin lymphoma. Following treatment and remission, he received a second cancer diagnosis at age 16—this time a primitive neuroectodermal tumor in his chest, also known as an Askin sarcoma.

“It’s interesting how much the teen years influence our future. For me, it was going through two terminal cancers and essentially playing Twister with the Grim Reaper,” Swarner said.

“I remember being given 14 days to live. I was read my last rites. When you’re at such an impressionable age, when your friends are out chasing girls, collecting baseball cards, worried about the latest hairstyles, you develop a different perspective when your own mortality is at risk. I’ve carried that through into the present, understanding how fragile life is, and how I want to go out there and help other people.”

Swarner will deliver the Keynote Address during the CHEST 2025 Opening Session, Sunday, October 19, at 8 am in the Arie Crown Theater at McCormick Place Lakeside Center. He will share lessons learned not only from surviving the slimmest of odds during his childhood but also from making history as the first cancer survivor to crest the summit of Mount Everest—with just one functioning lung, no less.

Since accomplishing that feat in his late 20s, Swarner has continued pushing his limits by scaling the tallest mountains on each continent, also known as the “Seven Summits.” He has skied to both the South and North Poles, completed the Ironman World Championship, and recently ran seven marathons in seven days on seven continents. He has also helped to empower other cancer survivors by founding the nonprofit, The CancerClimber Association.

“I wanted to use literally the highest platform in the world to give people hope,” he said. “Not everyone’s going to climb Everest. Not everyone’s going to climb mountains, but everybody has mountains to climb in their lives.”

As he’s conquered one summit after another, Swarner has developed a stronger appreciation for the journey, not just the destination.

“Whatever your goal is, find a deeper meaning behind it. When you do that, not only will you always have motivation to keep going even if the struggle gets difficult, you’re also going to truly appreciate the end result.”

Swarner’s story resonated with CHEST President John Howington, MD, MBA, FCCP. Dr. Howington is a thoracic surgeon, as well as an avid hiker who has hiked on two of the Seven Summits, so he can appreciate Swarner’s remarkable physical and mental endurance.

“Losing part of someone’s lung alters them. It’s enlightening and encouraging to see someone not only survive but thrive after that brush with death,” Dr. Howington said. “He’s an example for other patients that there is a bright future ahead once you’ve battled and beat cancer.”

The Opening Session will also include remarks from Dr. Howington and CHEST 2025 Scientific Program Committee Chair Sandhya Khurana, MD, FCCP, as well as award recognition and the annual convocation for new Fellows of the American College of Chest Physicians (FCCP).