Ben’s Story

Ben was diagnosed with a grade 4 astrocytoma in April of 2023. He is a writer living in Los Angeles with his wife Olivia. Ben is committed to writing about his unique experience with honesty, insight, and appreciation for the absurd.

Ben has had clean scans for over a year now and we are so excited to help him and Olivia on their journey.

Read Ben's first published piece since his diagnosis in Elephants & Tea's September issue on "The Struggles of Survivorship.

Here is an excerpt from Ben’s “The Long Return Home.”

When you finish treatment, you want cancer to become a chapter that you close and move on to the next. You want for whatever transpired during treatment to have taken as little as possible. You want to prepare to welcome back your old friend, the healthier, happier version of yourself you knew before cancer. You are sitting there, waiting for the knock on the door from your vibrant, undiminished self.

I have definitely changed since cancer. But the best version of me starts with the one that survived. I am alive. Whatever else I want to do in the world doesn’t matter one bit if I’m not still in the world to do it. I am learning to accept how I have changed, in both positive and negative ways. The version before cancer might not have been brave enough to say these things out loud. The version after cancer can barely shut up about it. The version before cancer loved life very dearly. The version after cancer loves life all the more.

Read the full piece HERE