Swimsuit

This Breast Cancer Thriver Hiked Mount Kilimanjaro This Year—Here's What's Next on Her Bucket List

Kelly Crump, a 2022 Swim Search finalist, has a love of travel, and nothing is slowing her down.

Cara O’Bleness

Kelly Crump
Kelly Crump / Kelly Crump was photographed by Yu Tsai in the Dominican Republic.

October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month. According to the National Breast Cancer Foundation, one in eight women in the U.S. will develop breast cancer in their lifetimes. Aside from skin cancer, breast cancer is the most common cancer among U.S. women. This October, SI Swimsuit is committed to providing resources for breast cancer patients while sharing the stories of warriors who have been impacted by the disease. For more information, click here.

Kelly Crump was diagnosed with early-stage breast cancer eight years ago at the age of 38. She underwent chemotherapy, but within six months, there was a recurrence of her cancer, which required a double mastectomy and additional chemotherapy. In 2019, her cancer metastasized, spreading to other areas of her body, including her lungs and bones.

While she struggled to find a drug that would respond to her cancer, Crump says the one she has been on for the last two-and-a-half years is now keeping her stable and she is in a good place. These days, she has chemotherapy every three weeks and afterward, says it takes her 7 to 10 days to “start to feel like a human being again.”

She started to open up about her experience living with metastatic breast cancer on social media in 2020, and since, Crump has created a community of 49,700 followers, where she reminds others that it is still possible to live life to the fullest with an incurable disease.

Travel ‘makes me feel alive’

Now 46, Crump has always had a love for experiencing different cultures through travel, but her cancer diagnosis brought a different lens to her wanderlust.

“ I thought I was only going to be here for a short amount of time, so I started traveling every free moment that I had,” she tells SI Swimsuit of life after her diagnosis. “I think I realized you start to see and understand people much better when you’re traveling. You understand how culturally different things can be, but also at the same time, how we’re all the same. It’s a strange thing. After I was initially diagnosed, I couldn’t travel, and then once I was able to get back into it, I’ve now tried to go to a few new countries a year. It makes me feel alive because I get to see the world and to see that yes, many countries have the same kind of problems or issues that a lot of us have in our own countries, but also to see the differences that can bring us together and it gives me more understanding.”

Crump, who often travels solo, says her adventures around the globe have reminded her of her resilience, natural problem solving abilities and street smarts. It’s also boosted her confidence and has provided some much-needed perspective.

In February of this year, the 2022 Swim Search finalist traveled to Tanzania, where she climbed Mount Kilimanjaro, the highest peak in Africa at 19,341 feet above sea level. She spent nine days hiking the mountain with a group of strangers, including 80 Sherpa who guided the group in T-shirts and flip flops, despite night temperatures at the peak dipping between 20 and -20 degrees Fahrenheit.

“ I like learning about how other people get by and live and how they make themselves happy with what they have or what they’re given or what they’re living with,” Crump adds of traveling.

With a goal of exploring a few new countries a year, Crump has checked several incredible destinations off of her bucket list within the last 11 months, including India, where she hiked the Indian Himalayas and explored temples at the Dalai Lama, and the Hebrides off the coast of Scotland. She recently reached a major milestone, having traveled to 40 different countries within the last 16 years. Crump still has plenty of room for new stamps in her passport, however, and hopes to visit South Africa and Kenya in 2026, where she’d like to experience a safari on horseback. China, Montenegro and Japan are also on her wishlist for next year.

Combining her love of adventure with advocacy

Crump works closely with London-based breast cancer charity, CoppaFeel! While she started off participating in the organization’s annual treks, she upgraded her status as a volunteer and vice captain after several years of helping others along the trail—both physically and emotionally.

“ I support on these treks, make sure that people have the best time that they can, have the best experience, but also I’m someone who can listen, who can empathize a lot with what people are going through, and also I teach people how to hike,” Crump explains. “ ...  It’s been the most rewarding experience because I have not been able to work within the last eight years, so this has taken the place of it.”

Having climbed roughly 13,123 feet in hikes over the last several years, Crump has plenty of wisdom to impart regarding the physicality of tough hikes. She recommends taking the path of least resistance and climbing at a sustainable pace to avoid burnout early on.

The realities of living with metastatic breast cancer

When it comes to organizing her trips, Crump has to plan around her chemotherapy appointments. She says it requires her to be very organized and she has an oncologist whom she has a great rapport with.

“ Sometimes we do shift things around, and she will tell me [when it’s not possible],” Crump shares. “Recently I wanted to push my treatment probably like three weeks longer out and she said no. She’ll tell me if she doesn’t feel comfortable. So it’s a conversation that we have, but I schedule around it and I do what kind of works for my life.”

She also runs activities by her doctor, like Crump’s desire to swim with whale sharks in the coming months, to get the O.K. from her physician. She believes it’s important for women to have a similarly open dialogue with their physicians in order to live life to the fullest.

Crump urges women to know their breasts by conducting regular self-exams in order to be aware of any changes as soon as possible. While she detected her breast cancer through a lump, she also wants women to be aware that there are several other signs of breast cancer, such as breast pain and nipple discharge.

“ Then if you do go in to see a physician for anything ... don’t be afraid to advocate for yourself,” Crump states. “I think sometimes we feel that we need to be quiet and not challenge or push back someone who is in the medical field, but it’s your body and sometimes maybe it’s just not the right doctor if they’re not open to listening to your concerns. So I always say, if you’ve found someone that’s maybe not listening to you and you’re frustrated, try to find someone else who will.”

Two years ago, Crump’s doctor told her that she had run out of chemotherapy drug options, as the one she was taking was causing damage to her lungs. After three months of treatment, her doctor wanted to take her off of the drug, but Crump advocated for trying it for three additional months. Her oncologist switched her to the lowest possible dose of the drug, which worked.

“ And because of that, I’ve gotten another year-and-a-half,” Crump shares. “I’m still on this drug, it’s working, and every time we get a scan, we say, if I would’ve never asked that question, I don’t know what would’ve happened.”

Crump says living with metastatic breast cancer has emboldened her to speak up where her health is concerned, and it’s that message that she hopes to pass along to other women.

“After being given this terminal diagnosis, the fear that I would probably usually have of, ‘What are they gonna think of me if I say that? Am I speaking up too much? Am I too much?’ That's gone away because to me now, it doesn't matter,” she says. “I have nothing to lose in life and I want to empower other people to realize [the same]. What is the worst that can happen if you advocate for yourself in a medical setting? They could say no, but it doesn’t mean you can’t go to someone else who might say yes or who might listen to you a little bit more, so there’s nothing wrong with speaking up.”

https://images2.minutemediacdn.com/image/upload/v1759326461/images/voltaxMediaLibrary/mmsport/si_swimsuit/01k6g0epx2cbb70y4kje.jpg. https://images2.minutemediacdn.com/image/upload/v1759326461/images/voltaxMediaLibrary/mmsport/si_swimsuit/01k6g0epzmb0pcez0mvb.jpg. Community Support Guide. https://images2.minutemediacdn.com/image/upload/v1759326461/images/voltaxMediaLibrary/mmsport/si_swimsuit/01k6g0epzrfe5pbhp511.jpg. Breast Self-Exam How To. Resources for POC. PINKTOBER resources EDITED AGAIN

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Cara O’Bleness
CARA O’BLENESS

Cara O’Bleness is a writer and editor on the Lifestyle and Trending News team for SI Swimsuit. Prior to joining SI Swimsuit in 2022, she worked as a writer and editor across a number of content verticals, including food, lifestyle, health and wellness, and small business and entrepreneurship. In her free time, O’Bleness loves reading, spending time with her family and making her way through Michigan’s many microbreweries. She is a graduate of Michigan State University’s School of Journalism.

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