's capabilities . `` It 's kind of like the starving person who all of a sudden finds himself in front of a buffet . And now I 've got the buffet . I 've got my all-you-can-eat plate , and I 'm just loading it up , '' Garlett said . A heart transplant may seem extremely daunting , but Garlett saw it as a more hopeful operation than his years of cancer treatments . `` Going in for chemotherapy , as a patient you know what 's happening . Your body is being poisoned and you know that when you come out on the other side of it , you 're going to have given up something , '' said Garlett , a sportswriter and motivational speaker living in Marina del Rey , California . `` On the heart transplant , though , it was completely the opposite . I knew that from the day of the transplant on , every day I 'd be getting stronger . And they were now doing something that was going to fix me , improve my life . '' Garlett , who says he 's `` not a klutz '' but
-LRB- CNN -RRB- -- If all goes according to plan , cancer survivor Kyle Garlett will compete in October 's Ford Ironman World Championship , a grueling triathlon made up of a 2.4-mile ocean swim , a 112-mile bicycle ride and a 26.2-mile run . Heart transplant recipient and cancer survivor Kyle Garlett will compete in October 's Ironman World Championship . And he 'll do it with another man 's heart pumping in his chest . `` I do n't think there 's anybody who would n't consider me a success story and a survivor , '' Garlett said . His medical issues began in 1989 when he received his first Hodgkin 's disease diagnosis as a high school senior . In 1995 , during his third battle with the cancer , doctors ceased his chemotherapy treatment when they discovered it had weakened his heart . Two years later , Garlett learned he had secondary leukemia as a result of chemotherapy to treat the Hodgkin 's , and three more years of chemotherapy ensued . And after five years on the waiting list , he received a new heart in 2006 . Now , the 37-year-old savors his body