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WEEKLY NEWS 4: Ben's Game

For many children and adults alike, video games present an escape from reality. Ben Dushkin is no exception, but, unlike most of his peers, his daily reality includes facing cancer. However, with the help of the Make-A-Wish Foundation, Ben used his love of video games to create a game to help him fight his cancer.

Ben, 11-years-old, was diagnosed with leukemia, a form of bone cancer, three-and-a-half years ago. To fight the disease, doctors recommended chemotherapy to help kill the cancer cells in his body. Although chemotherapy can be effective, there are many side effects such as nausea, extreme fatigue, pain, rashes, and vomiting. Like many patients, Ben found chemotherapy very exhausting and painful, but playing video games helped distract him from his discomfort.

Therefore, when Make-A-Wish asked him what he would most like to do, he said he wanted to design a video game that would allow players to fight cancer cells. To make his dream a reality, Make-A-Wish went to the studio of Star Wars' director George Lucas and had one of his top designers help Ben design the game.

The final product, called "Ben's Game," allows players to enter the body and use various weapons to fight and kill cancer cells while also battling the side effects of the disease and chemotherapy.

"Ben's Game" is free of charge and can be downloaded at the Make-A-Wish website.

--Written by Morgan Diamond

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