Ben had battled his life-threatening medical condition for more than three years and wanted to help other kids fight theirs. He wished to design a video game that would allow players to kill cancer cells and thereby relieve some of the pain and stress of treatments. The Greater Bay Area chapter's executive director, Patricia Wilson, reported that finding a game company to tackle the task started off rough. "The initial response was overwhelmingly pessimistic," she explained. "People told us this venture was nearly impossible without taking several years and literally millions of dollars."

Perhaps the challenge sounded too daunting to most, but not to LucasArts Senior Software Engineer and Technical Director Eric Johnston. Eric is - in layman's terms - a computer game programmer, in addition to his side interests as a flying trapeze instructor and stunt man. He volunteered his nights and weekends for the project while LucasArts offered its computers and facilities. During their weekly meetings, which lasted six months, Ben explained his visions for the game and Eric adapted them into what is now called "Ben's Game."

The game's hero is Ben himself, who was recorded shouting such short phrases as "Ow!" and "Yahoo!" Players move Ben on a hoverboard and destroy mutated cells. Additionally, they must collect seven shields to protect them from the side effects of chemotherapy, which include colds, vomiting, chicken pox, hair loss, and more. The shields are guarded by troublesome creatures, such as the Robarf Monster (vomiting), Fire Monster (fever), and Qball Monster (hair loss).

Ben and Eric debuted "Ben's Game" on May 7, 2004, in San Francisco, and it continues to receive national media attention. In the five days following the game's debut, more than 20,000 people had downloaded the free game from the Greater Bay Area's Web site at www.makewish.org/ben.

With his treatments finished, positive reviews coming in on "Ben's Game," and his illness in remission, the boy is now working on his next challenge - playing professional basketball for the Los Angeles Lakers.
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