charity organizations and they came
back to tell me all about their trips—I
was fascinated by the entire trip and very
interested in going myself! However, the
altitude really scared me,” says Cory. As a
pediatric lung cancer survivor, Cory has
a piece of her lung missing in addition to
scar tissue and titanium staples. “I was
concerned about how my body might
react to the altitude change.”
Cory began googling “altitude sickness
+ lung cancer,” “Mt. Kilimanjaro + cancer
survivor” and more, and she came across
Sean Swarner. Sean is the first cancer
survivor to ever climb Mt. Everest. He is
a two time pediatric lung cancer survivor
with only one functioning lung. He then
went on to climb all the tallest peaks
on each continent and trekked to the
north and south poles—a feat called the
Explorer’s Grand Slam. He has dedicated
his life to inspiring others who have been
affected by cancer, and he and his brother
started the Cancer Climber Association—
an organization providing awareness,
support, inspiration, and adventure
support grants. Each year Sean and
members of the organization take cancer
survivors to climb Mt. Kilimanjaro with
Sean’s HOPE flag that carries the names of
those touched by cancer.
“The goal is to inspire others that there
is life after cancer and to push yourself to
achieve more that you think you can,” says
Cory. “I very much wanted to climb with
Sean, so I started following him on social
media, sent him an email—and before you
know it he was inviting me to go with him
for the 2020 trip!”
Cory will be travelling with Sean as
the guide and her husband, Ben, will be
going with her. The organization was able
to fundraise enough money to support
three cancer survivors this year. Rachael
Fussell and Todd McCollough will be the
other two cancer survivors going with
Cory and they are from South Carolina
and Washington (state), respectively.
There will also be other people joining
the group—some climbed last year while
others are new, but they are not all cancer
survivors.
“It will be a six-day climb up Mt.
Kilimanjaro and a one or two day climb
back down depending on how we are
all feeling,” says Cory. The group will be
flying out on June 25 and climbing from
June 30 to July 6, then going on a four-day
safari in the Serengeti.
“This trip is so important to me because
I have always wanted to inspire others
to achieve more,” says Cory. “I grew up
really fast as an 11 year old diagnosed
with cancer—something I hope no one
ever has to go through—but it really did
change my life and my perspective on
many things. I then was diagnosed with
severe ulcerative colitis when I was 17
years old. I was hospitalized for about a
week. I lost a lot of weight, then gained a
lot of weight after being on prednisone for
over a year. All this time, I was trying to
play fastpitch softball at the highest level
and to earn a college scholarship. It was
very stressful mentally and physically, but
I made it work and I achieved my goals,
but not without a tremendous amount
of effort.”
“Since I work at my family’s gym and I
coach young girls, I want to inspire others
to live healthy lifestyles and to work hard
to achieve their goals,” she continues. “I
meet many people at Anytime Fitness
trying to change their life, deal with health
issues, lose weight, fight cancer, and more
and I love being able to empathize with
them and share experiences. I think it
helps them know that there are other
people who have struggled too and that
we are here to support each other. I want
to be a strong female role model for the
young girls that I coach and show them
that if you work hard enough, nothing
can stop you from achieving what you set
your mind to.”
Cory’s husband’s support has always
been instrumental to her success, in
addition to her parents, siblings, friends,
acquaintances and even gym members.
She has held multiple fundraisers all year
to raise money for the Cancer Climber
Association and this trip, including a Go
Fund Me page, raffle basket fundraisers,
dine-in nights at restaurants and even
candy fundraisers for the holidays.
“Everyone has been so supportive,” she
says. “I also want to give a huge thank you
to the North Strabane Fire Department
who went above and beyond with
supporting me and this organization with
a very substantial $2K donation—I was
overwhelmed with their generosity!”
Overall, Cory has raised about $8K and
she is still working to raise more money so
she can help send another cancer survivor
on this trip in 2021.
“I am happy to be here, to be alive, to
be healthy and to be happy, and I plan
to leave lasting footprints while I’m on
earth and I hope to inspire others to do
the same,” says Cory. “I cannot wait to
be standing at the summit and letting the
overwhelming amount of emotion I will
be feeling come out.” n
Cory with members of the North Strabane Fire Department.
PETERS TOWNSHIP
❘
APRIL/MAY 2020
37