Rob Shaver has been living with stage four cancer for over 20 years. He's had multiple recurrences, been through multiple rounds of chemotherapy, and received more than 60 radiation treatments. In 2020, after he finished chemo to fight his third recurrence, Rob started running and ended up running for 1,175 days straight.
Rob Shaver has been living with stage four cancer for over 20 years. He's had multiple recurrences, been through multiple rounds of chemotherapy, and received more than 60 radiation treatments. In 2020, after he finished chemo to fight his third recurrence, Rob started running and ended up running for 1,175 days straight.
About the film: The Life We Have is a short film about REI San Antonio employee Rob Shaver, who after two decades living with stage 4 cancer, made a pact to run at least one mile every day until he passes away. This film, his journey, and everything we learn along the way is meant to celebrate Rob, the Shaver family, and all of those inspired to live the life they have. It is a quiet reflection on mortality, resilience, and the choice to “live deeply, live thoroughly and with beautiful effort.”
Watch the film: The Life We Have
Join The Life We Have Strava Club
Thank you to our sponsor:
Capital One and the REI Co-op® Mastercard®
Rob Shaver:
I think it's within the capacity of all of us to be able to filter our lives through a magical lens. And I'm not saying that there aren't dark times, and there aren't times where you have all the stages of grief, it's still within our capacity though to be able to plug into beauty and meaning even in the most challenging circumstance.
Shelby Stanger:
Rob Shaver has been living with stage four cancer for over 20 years. He's had multiple recurrences, been through multiple rounds of chemotherapy, and received more than 60 radiation treatments. In 2020, after he finished chemo to fight his third recurrence, Rob started running. Some days, he couldn't complete a single mile, but getting outside and moving his body helped him feel like he was wringing as much juice out of life as he could. Rob ended up running for 1,175 days straight, which is just over three years. During this run streak, Rob completed numerous races from half-marathons to ultras like the TransRockies and the Bandera 100K. Since his diagnosis 20 years ago, life has been unpredictable, but running has provided him a constant source of comfort.
I'm Shelby Stanger, and this is Wild Ideas Worth Living, an REI Co-op Studios production presented by Capital One and the REI Co-op Mastercard. We recorded this conversation with Rob more than a year ago. Since then, his health has declined significantly. We're sharing his story now with the blessing of Rob's family because his resilience and his message of hope continue to inspire us and we believe it deserves to be heard.
Rob Shaver, welcome to Wild Ideas Worth Living. I'm really excited to be here with you today.
Rob Shaver:
Oh, likewise. I'm just so honored to be on and excited to talk to you and just share a few minutes together.
Shelby Stanger:
Well, you're so sweet. I'm curious, what was your relationship with the outdoors growing up?
Rob Shaver:
As a late teenager, like so many other people, I read a couple of books. You read your first Krakauer book or start reading John Muir or Into the Wild and Into Thin Air and all those kinds of books all those years ago, and then you're just super motivated to get out there and do something yourself, and then it really blossomed for me.
Shelby Stanger:
Did you start going camping or hiking or trail running? Because I don't know if everybody's read Krakauer and John Muir, but I think a lot of people listening to this podcast probably have.
Rob Shaver:
Exactly, almost like the requisite quiver of books to prepare your mind and body for adventure. I would say in Arkansas where I was from, the Ozark Mountains are really beautiful and not a lot of people know about, so it was definitely hiking and camping, and just being out there and experiencing it slowly and enjoyable. Interestingly enough, so much of my love for the outdoors and gaining so much joy and perspective from the outdoors goes hand in hand with getting sick.
Shelby Stanger:
In 2004, Rob was diagnosed with stage four Ewing sarcoma, a bone cancer with a high incidence in children and young adults. At the time of his diagnosis, Rob was only 28 years old, and his prognosis wasn't good. The doctors expected he wouldn't live more than a few years, but Rob has defied what anyone thought was possible.
When did you get sick?
Rob Shaver:
In 2004, I had a 15% chance to live five years.
Shelby Stanger:
Well, you sure surpassed what they thought.
Rob Shaver:
Yeah, and obviously I've had multiple recurrences since then, so now we're just so off book. There is no real precedent for anything like this. No, there's no real journal articles to read or any kind of peers to find. This is the circumstance, this is the diagnosis, this is the prognosis. There, in the midst of that moment, I looked for encouragement and stories of other people who had just overcome anything. I remember reading a book about a young lady that had survived the genocide in Rwanda, and I listened to tapes over and over about people that had overcome certain things and I was looking for hope. But I do know that if 20 years ago I would've heard about someone who had lived to be nearly 50 and had gotten diagnosed at that point with that kind of prognosis, it would've been a huge encouragement to me.
Shelby Stanger:
Let's go back. You were diagnosed at 28, which is really young, but you said that's also when you leaned into adventure.
Rob Shaver:
I would say in general, just movement. Movement is medicine. It felt so organic and helpful to just move. It was just getting out there and being able to smell, to observe the world in a grain of sand, just every moment trying to drink in as much as I could. We had a local mountain where I lived just a small little 600 foot climb to the top, but a 360 degree view, and I would just go out there and I would do it over mean every day, hundreds of times in a year over and over, and that's just something that I had just right there, experiencing the outdoors as deeply as I could, just right there on that little mountain in the Ouachitas.
Shelby Stanger:
I think what's so cool is that you found a piece of nature that brought you a lot of healing and a lot of joy just right outside your door. You didn't need to travel far for it.
Rob Shaver:
Yeah, that's that quote by William James to see the universe in a wildflower is to observe eternity in an hour.
Shelby Stanger:
I love that quote. I don't think I've ever heard that before.
Rob Shaver:
Yeah. I mean the challenge in so many things is you don't have to be doing the most incredible thing all the time to be able to drink in the beauty that's around us, just right there. It's right here with you all the time.
Shelby Stanger:
Unless he was feeling particularly weak or was stuck in the hospital, Rob made it a priority to move his body outside sometimes. That was a walk in his neighborhood in San Antonio, or hiking a nearby trail with his mom and brother. In June of 2020, 16 years into his diagnosis, Rob was well enough to go on a run. Running outside made him feel alive, so he kept at it every single day for just over three years. He ended up running 1,175 days in a row, logging just over 7,500 miles.
You decided to keep running?
Rob Shaver:
Yeah.
Shelby Stanger:
No matter what.
Rob Shaver:
No matter what.
Shelby Stanger:
Talk to me about this.
Rob Shaver:
I had doctors that were very honest and open with me. Then I said, "Well, I tried to run so many miles today," or, "Is it okay if I go out to the local mountain and try to make it up to the top?"
And they're like, "Go for it." And it started just so simply and so many things are relative to what your circumstance is. Yeah, there've been many, many, many, many days that I couldn't make it around the lake when the local neighborhood that's a mile around. That was the best I could do, but I still gave everything I could that day and a lot of those days there was blood on my shirt. A lot of those days I was coughing up blood, but I still saw it through the lens of appreciation to be able to do whatever it is I could do, and I wasn't going to quit moving until I was going to give everything I could to continue. And no doubt, I believed that it benefited me on so many fronts, so many. So yeah, it was a big part of my healing physically and psychologically.
Shelby Stanger:
When you did your run streak, you did it outside. You could have done it on treadmill, you could have, there's days where it's not always hot in Texas. I get it. There are cold days.
Rob Shaver:
Few.
Shelby Stanger:
Why?
Rob Shaver:
Oh, I love, I mean, I can't tell you how much when I was in school, in grad school and stuff, I used to go to the trail and take my notes with me, and we're talking about some pretty gnarly single track kind of stuff. Any possible opportunity I had to be in nature in some form. I was going to try to make that happen. Absolutely. And then that's just reinforced if you have to go through something like inpatient chemotherapy where you're laying in the bed all the time and you're hooked up to stuff, and do you understand that this is necessary and that there's a whole world of doctors out there that love you and care about you and are trying to help you, but you have to live in the hospital for days at a time, and it just makes that need to be out there and experience that much more.
So absolutely get outside, just in whatever capacity. I loved seeing the landscaping and people's yards change, and how much care that people had about their new plants. I mean, in my neighborhood, I'm sure, I mean, I've run thousands and thousands and thousands and thousands of miles.
Shelby Stanger:
Tell me what you've seen. I'm curious.
Rob Shaver:
Oh, yeah, like when people change the plants out in the front of their house or working on adding something, and for all of us that seems incredibly mundane, but for somebody else at that space that they live in, that's them beautifying the world around them.
Shelby Stanger:
For Rob, running is a spiritual practice. It provides him a way to be fully present and it's something that's become incredibly important during his health journey. A few months into his daily running routine, Rob surprised himself and his doctors when he gained enough strength to compete in longer distance races. Over the next few years, he was able to run a half-marathon, then a 50K, then a 50 miler, and several other ultras.
Is there a race that during that time really stuck out for you?
Rob Shaver:
I think for me, Bandera. I did the Bandera 100.
Shelby Stanger:
When?
Rob Shaver:
I did that January of 2022.
Shelby Stanger:
For those of us who are clueless, what is this race?
Rob Shaver:
So it's an ultra marathon that's a hundred kilometers long. It's one that's well known because it's called a golden ticket qualifier for the Western states, which is the oldest 100 miler in the world. And this is one of the races that if somebody wins it, they get an automatic golden ticket into Western states, so it's really famous and super well known.
Shelby Stanger:
How many miles and over what terrain and what weather?
Rob Shaver:
Yeah. Oh, wow. Yeah, so 62 miles, so a hundred kilometers over rolling rocky with cactus and so tall, that stuff that pokes into you. The weather in January was thirties, forties, misty, cold.
Shelby Stanger:
What was it like? How did you keep going? I've never run that far, I've never even run a marathon.
Rob Shaver:
Yeah. I think for me, and I mean this, I truly mean this and I hope it doesn't sound cliche. The longer and longer and longer that I've lived and felt so grateful too because like I said, and I want to make sure this is very clear, I have met some incredible, incredible people going through cancer who are courageous and strong, and I know if they were still here that they would be enjoying their life and drinking it in and spreading love and hope and learning so much from their experience. I've never, ever, ever thought that there was anything special about me. So I just wanted to use their energy and their memories to keep me going.
Shelby Stanger:
You do these races, and I've seen you run and you look pretty good. You got solid form, you're a good runner.
Rob Shaver:
I was.
Shelby Stanger:
And people can't necessarily tell that you're sick, so you tell people? How does that change your interactions with people on the road? You have this, in some ways an invisible illness.
Rob Shaver:
Yeah, I've certainly experienced that too. I can name you many, many times that there were circumstances in which people would just judge you based on what they see on the outside. I mean, for cancer patients specifically, when you don't have your hair and all that stuff, it's easy to see and then when your hair comes back, they think you're good to go. And that's very rarely the case. In fact, so many cancer patients, their hair comes back because chemotherapy is not working or something like that. There's a lot to that.
No, it's something that means a lot to me because I know, unfortunately over the years I've had the lack of empathy from people because they have an idea in their mind of what malady is, of what sick is. I think the most important thing for any of us then is we don't know. We don't know what's happening over there. We don't know what's happening in the house next to us, we don't know what's happening in the cars that are driving next to us on the freeway. So hopefully that kind of thing elicits more compassion because, yeah, the picture of trial and real struggle can have a lot of faces.
Shelby Stanger:
You can't always tell what's going on with someone just by looking at them. Even though the endurance races provided incredible experiences, Rob says he was occasionally heckled for his relatively slow pace, but he never stopped running with each step. Rob felt profound gratitude for his body that despite everything it's been through has carried him across some incredible adventures.
Rob Shaver was diagnosed with stage four cancer 22 years ago. Since then, he's defied the odds, not only surviving, but also competing in multiple marathons and even ultras. His running journey has been a family affair with Rob's mom and younger brother training alongside him. In 2022, Rob ran the Bandera 100K, crossing the finish line in the middle of the night. It was dark and cold, but his mom was there cheering him on. In both his running and his cancer treatment, Rob's family has been an incredible source of strength and support.
You are so close to your mom and brother, they sound really amazing.
Rob Shaver:
Oh, thanks. They are. They've sacrificed, truly, truly sacrificed so much. Caregivers throughout all of this. I see what they've been through and I know the knots. I was in inpatient chemotherapy, so I stayed in the hospital for weeks at a time. How many nights have I seen my mom sleep next to my bed?
Shelby Stanger:
And your mom and brother also run with you?
Rob Shaver:
Yeah, so I can remember several times that we entered a race and they ran with me I think for one of the first ones was a 20K, so 12 miles. And I think they were probably more emotional about me. And like you said, I have so much of these finishes and stuff like Bandera, I finished and it was the middle of the night. There was nobody standing there but my mom when I finished that kind of thing. They were the ones that were like... And they had seen firsthand. They're the ones that knew what the situation was, so to be able to share something like that together was like a miracle.
Shelby Stanger:
Even if others can't always see the long journey that Rob has traveled, his family knows how hard it's been. In 2023, Rob's health declined, and he was forced to end his running streak, but that hasn't kept him from getting outside and moving whenever he can.
When you run, how do you feel? What does running do for you?
Rob Shaver:
Yeah, and what's interesting now, and I'll just be is I'm not able to right now, and that's okay. I've experienced so much of it, and I've been able to walk, and I'm enjoying that just as much. It's so relative.
Shelby Stanger:
I love your laugh.
Rob Shaver:
Thank you, I kind of have-
Shelby Stanger:
You have the best laugh.
Rob Shaver:
It's like a Bert and Ernie kind of laugh.
Shelby Stanger:
It's such a happy laugh.
Rob Shaver:
It makes me feel, I think, and I'll be honest, my brother's seen it. My mom has seen it. It's been hard too. Yeah, absolutely.
Shelby Stanger:
I mean, you're going through the hardest thing out of anybody. Yeah. What you do every day is incredibly difficult.
Rob Shaver:
No, and you recognize that everybody, what's the? Be kind, for everyone's fighting a hard battle. It's relative though. I am so lucky, Shelby, this is just the truth. I know you've interviewed lots of people. For me to sit here and talk to you, I know that a very imperfect young guy, 28 years old and just normal whatever was diagnosed stage four. And I'm still here talking to you at 48. I mean, yeah, I mean, I'm grateful, I'm grateful.
Shelby Stanger:
Obviously to survive this kind of cancer takes a certain mental fortitude. And I know you keep saying you were just lucky, but also to do an ultra marathon takes some mental fortitude. So is there something you say to yourself while going through these times that goes through your head when you're going through really hard, or are you singing? Because I also know you're a singer.
Rob Shaver:
So much, so much. I think the thing that, especially something like this that's lasted this long, it's been a lifelong process, Shelby, of psychological constructs and being able to deal with situations and circumstance, whether that's reading the Bhagavad Gita and trying to sound like a super nerd to Dr. Seuss.
Shelby Stanger:
I like Dr. Seuss too. I love the spectrum. This is a good spectrum.
Rob Shaver:
Absolutely. There are some profound paradigm switches that happen when you're given the, there's a 50/50 chance you're going to live to be 30 years old kind of situation, which was mine. The one that I always have used, and I'm a big fan of Eckhart Tolle, The Power of Now is accept all circumstances as if it's the one you would've chosen. And of course, another easier way to say that is I am right where I need to be. I have used tools and mantras and ways to reframe my circumstance. I have certainly used present moment awareness and acceptance and finding purpose and meaning and learning to embrace what's difficult. I mean, obviously anybody that interviews a thru-hiker talks about embracing the suck. I'm not saying it's the worst thing in the world, but stage four, those are pretty rough circumstances. And when you see this as, except all circumstances, as if it's the one you would've chosen, there's a significant paradigm switch in how you move throughout your day and how you behave.
Shelby Stanger:
You're just this giant ball of compassion and kindness.
Rob Shaver:
Oh, I appreciate it.
Shelby Stanger:
You are, you're such a nice human. I'm sure there's people listening who are battling some sort of unseen disability or illness, any advice to them?
Rob Shaver:
Yeah, it's tough. I think the advice, I would probably be some of it the same that I would hopefully give to anybody to just really, really, really stay present. And like I said earlier, this is a very Viktor Frankl thing to say, sorry I'm quoting so many people.
Shelby Stanger:
I like Viktor Frankl, it's okay.
Rob Shaver:
It's finding some place that you find joy and you find meaning and making sure you stay there as often as you can and walk through the world with honesty and transparency and this resolve to find a reason, a real joy to get up in the morning and do anything. And then as Viktor Frankl would say, or any of us have learned, then give effort. Give effort. It takes an action, a doing to some degree to really turn lead into gold. It doesn't have to be anything wild. I mean, it almost pinches me a little bit and I surely don't want a ton of credit for it that in my state to able to cover that many thousands of miles or whatnot. But it all started with just around the block one time.
Shelby Stanger:
Rob's remarkable story is the subject of a new film by REI titled The Life We Have. We'll leave you with a clip from the movie where Rob is singing for his friends and family at a small concert. Rob has been a musician for a long time, but because of his cancer, he only has one fully functioning lung. Throughout his treatments, singing has helped him with his breathing and his lung capacity. The ability to make music has always been a comfort and a source of joy for Rob. Plus, his voice is beautiful.
Rob Shaver:
[Applause.] Thank y'all so much for coming out, I don't really know what to say. A lot of my health situation, and many years ago when the doctor told me that I might have to live the rest of my life on oxygen, I got real lucky that when I went home and looked up, one of the best things you can do for your lung is sing.
I'm going to cry on this one.
MUSIC:
God on high.
Hear my prayer.
In my need.
You have always been there.
Shelby Stanger:
To find out more about the film, you can go to thelifewehavefilm.com. We'll also include a link in the show notes. Wild Ideas Worth Living is part of the REI Podcast Network. It's hosted by me, Shelby Stanger, produced by Annie Fassler, Sylvia Thomas, and Sam Peers Nitzberg of Puddle Creative. Our senior producer is Jenny Barber. Our executive producers are Paolo Mottola and Joe Crosby. Thanks again to our partner, Capital One and the REI Co-op Mastercard. As always, we love it when you follow the show, take time to rate it, and write a review wherever you listen. And remember, some of the best adventures happen when you follow your wildest ideas.
MUSIC:
Bring him home.
Bring him home.