Ben's journey began when his mom (Casi) noticed that he seemed to be losing weight. She began monitoring his weight, and within a few days knew there was a problem. She immediately took him to his pediatrician, who began running tests. It would take another arduous, frustrating 16 days to finally get the diagnosis. Once diagnosed, Ben was admitted to St. Francis in Tulsa, OK to begin induction (where the goal is to "induce" remission). Unfortunately, after 29 days remission was not achieved and it was discovered that Ben has Minimal Residual Disease. This means that the cancer cells were still in his body, increasing his overall risk and his risk of relapse. He was removed from all studies and placed in the "Very High Risk" category. His survival rate plummeted from 95-98% to 60-80%. About BenjaMan It's hard having cancer when you're four and you don't really understand what all is going on. So Ben's parent's created BenjaMan, Benjamin's superhero alter-ego. BenjaMan can do ANYTHING! He is super brave and super strong and super speedy! The "cartoonized" version of BenjaMan was created by the childhood friend of Mike (Ben's Daddy). The superhero theme has been carried through to nearly all aspects of Ben's treatment. His port-a-cath is a arc reactor (Iron Man). His chemo is radioactive ooze that will mutate him into awesomeness (TMNT). His clinic visits always begin with a rambunctious, "It's Cancer Clobberin' Time!" (The Thing). We're just a normal family who's life was turned upside down by cancer. Our approach is simple: Be Flexible. Be Brave. Don't eat hospital food. And most importantly, keep your sense of humor. "Against the assault of laughter, nothing can stand.” ~Mark Twain