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Man Survives Brain Cancer And Seizures To Climb Mountains: What He Has His Sights Set On

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A man survived both brain cancer and had been dealing with seizures, but that still hasn't stopped Ryan Simpson from setting his sights high. He has turned his attention to mountain climbing.

The symptoms hit him suddenly, he says.

"I kind of felt that something wasn't quite right," Simpson, who is 24, told People. "The next thing I knew, I woke up on the floor, very confused. I didn't even know what happened, but I figured waking up on the floor is not a normal thing, so I should probably go get checked out."

Going out to the hospital, he realized that he had a seizure. Doctors scanned his brain and discovered a brain cyst in his most important organ. Later, they diagnosed him with a brain tumor after he suffered more seizures. Fortunately, doctors managed to remove the tumor after two surgeries.

Cancer Battle

For the past year, he's been seizure and cancer-free. But the experience left him reevaluating his life. He turned to mountain climbing, determined to reach the highest peak in every state. It was a previous goal of his, but the cancer scare made him realize that he was letting life go by.

"One day I had an epiphany and decided, 'What am I waiting for? I've always wanted to do this, let me go out there,' " Simpson says, who tackled his first mountain with Virginia's Mount Rogers. "It's something I'd always wanted to get into. I always found it interesting. I enjoy hiking, but I never was what they call peak bagging, which is what I'm doing now: just trying to get as many mountain peaks in as possible."

So far, he says he's been blown away by the support he's garnered.

"The amount of support that I got in those first few days was mind-blowing because I had, at the time, kept it really close knit as to who knew—I didn't want to be the young guy with cancer, pity party, et cetera. Everyone was just unbelievable," he says. "The best thing that I want from people is just to spread the message and share it with others. Hopefully I can inspire at least one person to get out there and do something that they want to do but weren't doing and were procrastinating like I used to."