Brain Cancer Survivor Aims to Climb Every State’s Highest Peak

Ryan Simpson still remembers the night that changed his life two years ago when he was home alone watching TV.

“I kind of felt that something wasn’t quite right,” Simpson, 24, an IT employee at a Lexington, Ky., hospital, tells PEOPLE. “The next thing I know, I woke up on the floor, very confused.”

He adds, “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.”

Simpson called his family to drive him to the hospital as a precaution. He later learned from doctors that he experienced a seizure in which his muscle spasmed and he passed out.

Scans later revealed that he had a brain cyst, defined as a fluid-filled sac in the brain that can be benign or malignant.

A couple of months later, when he moved to Savannah, Ga., Simpson suffered back-to-back seizures. He was eventually diagnosed with a brain tumor. 

Simpson acknowledges the seizures significantly impacted his life, keeping him from driving and making him feel “nervous.”

Fortunately, Simpson underwent two surgeries to remove his tumor and has since been seizure-free for about a year now.

The ordeal inspired him to pursue a goal that he had discussed with his father before the seizures happened: reaching the highest mountain peak in each of the 50 states. (The highest one in the entire country is Alaska’s Mount McKinley, which has an elevation of over 20,000 feet).

He also came across the story of Oliver Widger, who quit his job following a serious health diagnosis and sailed from Oregon to Hawaii for three weeks.

“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.

So, Simpson embarked on his first mountain: Mount Rogers in Virginia.

“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,” he says.  

The most challenging peak for him so far has been Humphrey’s Peak in Arizona.

“That was easily the most elevation gain,” Simpson says, “and you’re starting to get to the level where you have to worry about altitude sickness. Luckily that didn’t have any effect on me. We stayed the night there before and took our precautions. But that was definitely the most strenuous.”

In the early part of his campaign, Simpson performed his climbs by himself, but lately his father has joined him in the adventure.

“He’s super supportive and he’s helped me get out there,” says Simpson. “It means a lot to have him as a hiking partner after us talking about it for so long.”

Simpson launched a GoFundMe to finance the costs of travel and expenses for his climbs; he has also posted updates about his campaign on Instagram and TikTok.

“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.

As of publication time, Simpson has reached 11 mountain peaks. His goals are to raise awareness about brain cancer and to show people who have an illness that they can still live an active life.

“The best thing that I want from people is just to spread the message and share it with others,” he says. “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.”

Simpson, who has been feeling fine almost a year after his last surgery, says that the brain cancer diagnosis transformed his life for the better, and he is eager to tackle the next mountain peak.

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“If I didn’t, I’d probably be sitting on my couch on the weekend watching a movie,” he says. “I was just so comfortable doing the same thing, and I kind of turned a curse into a blessing in my mind.

“It’s gotten me to really do what I really wanted to do instead of just sitting there stagnant,” he continues. “And that’s kind of a big reason why I started posting this stuff too, was just to try and inspire people to get out there.”