Cancer came back. Then it came back again. And this retired Marine still refused to quit.

In this episode of Beast vs Zombie, host Dominique Muhammad sits down with retired Marine Ivan Servin, who started with "gym back pain" and ended up fighting cancer three separate times. He tells the full story: the diagnosis, the chemo, the relapse, and the moment he rang the bell.

✅ How back pain he blamed on the gym turned out to be a pelvic mass and a germ cell tumor diagnosis

✅ Four rounds of BEP chemo, then a relapse in August 2025 that moved him to the tougher TIP chemo

✅ Why he sought a second opinion and what happened at City of Hope

✅ The last day of chemo, when his oncologist came in on his day off to push him through

✅ Back on the jiu-jitsu mats just weeks after chemo, bald and with no eyebrows

✅ The family, friends and diet changes that carried him through

✅ Why he believes "your life prepared you for these moments"

✅ His best advice: spend more time with your family

Cancer fights your body, but the mind decides how you fight back. Ivan's story is proof that you can always get up one more time.

🎙️Guest: Ivan Servin

🎧 Host: Dominique Muhammad

📺 Channel: The Cancer Podcast: Beast vs Zombie

Chapters

0:00 Hook

1:25 Intro

1:48 What it takes to become a Marine

5:23 How the military set him up for success

6:36 The cancer journey begins

9:00 BEP chemo: five days a week for three months

10:17 The relapse

11:42 Second opinion and City of Hope

15:20 The last chemo day and ringing the bell

16:26 Remission and the friends who stayed

23:32 Diet changes during cancer

29:19 His dad, his family and the toll it took

31:05 "He just will not die"

32:15 "Your life prepared you for this"

36:40 Life after the Marines and finding jiu-jitsu

44:05 His "why": the people in his life

46:45 How the "Beast vs Zombie" name was born

51:00 The truth about chemo bone pain

56:57 Daily habits and supplements

1:03:55 Best advice he ever got

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