After moving out of the house at 16, Ben received a scholarship to play soccer at his dream university. Over the next five years, he underwent three major surgeries and transferred schools until a car accident altered his life forever. A number of months later after a trip to the ER, he was forced to abandon his hopes of playing professional soccer. Ben spent the next three years on bedrest, making a second home out of hospitals, doctors offices, and imaging centers after receiving a diagnosis for a chronic autoimmune disease.

Due to his physical and mental restrictions, he desperately dove headfirst into writing as a means of escape, expression, and wrestling with his identity. Without any agenda, he bought his first notebook and began journaling his deepest questions, emotional turmoil, prayers, and meditations with pen and paper, often hunched over the side of his bed because of his illness. This undertaking also forced him to process the sexual abuse he experienced as an athlete and its impact on his mind, body, and soul.

Through a series of unexpected events, this journal became a manuscript that led to the release of his debut book, In Our Suffering, Lord Be Near. Now, through his book and weekly newsletter community, Ben seeks to encourage the often-silenced voices of the sick, lonely, and hopeless through honest writing, raw emotions, and personal vulnerability.