LEXINGTON, Ky. (LEX 18) — Ryan Simpson has had an eventful year, which is a massive understatement.
The eager pilot in training was ready to earn his wings when the universe grounded him in a way no one could've saw coming.
“I was sitting at my house and just randomly had a seizure out of nowhere. They said they found a mass in my brain, which was pretty scary," Simpson said.
"I had a biopsy surgery and I found out I had an astrocytoma which is lower grade which is ‘good.’ One of the lower classes that it could’ve been.”
The biopsy was one of two surgeries the 24-year-old has gone through since the diagnosis.
Safe to say, going through something like this at such a young age has been startling.
"It was very shocking. It messed me up for a good little bit. You never want to hear you have cancer, especially in your brain. It made me pretty sad for awhile and decided to get off my but and actually make something out of it," Simpson said.
That 'something' brought Simpson to social media with a mission.
Traveling to all 50 states and reaching the peak of the tallest mountain in each one.
The idea initially stemmed from a trip to Hawaii a couple years ago, but now Simpson is reinspired by his desire to raise awareness about brain cancer.
“The reactions I’ve gotten from people, people I haven’t even talked to in years and people I’ve never met has just been so supportive and amazing," Simpson said.
"A lot of them are people with either themselves or family members going through situations with brain cancer or any types of cancer. I’ve seen people who have messaged me who have lost loved ones. They’re in full support of what I’m doing and it really means a lot to me.”
Simpson is still very early on in his journey, his first trip for Virginia planned for this weekend, but organizing the endeavor to help others has given him new life in a way.
“I kinda stopped having reasons to wake up in the morning until this has began and now I wake up excited every morning just to share my experience and get this rolling off the ground," Simpson said.
If you want to follow Ryan Simpson on his journey, click here.
