Climbing the Inner Everest

Met a fascinating man today ... Alan Hobson is an adventurer and a cancer survivor.

Alan summitted Mount Everest, then learned that he had acute leukemia. Given no realistic odds of survival, he did survive. He did it by facing his cancer in much the same way he faced the mountain. He's now an inspirational speaker and was the keynote speaker at AGH's Visions for Total Health conference, which is how I met him.

"Everest is 97 percent preparation and three percent execution," he says, and then applies that to "real life" for the rest of us. If we want to achieve our goals, we must prepare for them.

From a professional perspective, Alan was a great guy to work with. (It doesn't hurt that he complimented my promotional work. We put together a billboard on US Highway 50 that he drove past on his way into town. "I was sort of dozing in the back of the car," he told me the next day, "and I saw this billboard. I said to myself, hey, that looks like someone in the Khumbu Icefall. Then I realized it was me in the Khumbu Icefall.")

From a personal experience, meeting him after the conference was an inspiring, fantastic experience. I don't think I've ever been in the presence of someone who just radiates positive energy like Alan does.