Ben was a cute child with blonde hair and light blue eyes. He was always very lively and cheerful. He easily found his way into the hearts of the people he met.

When he was still very young, Ben was diagnosed with 'Progerie'. He stopped growing. He lost his hair and arthritis made movement more and more difficult. His physical problems never prevented him from enjoying life, though. Everything was possible in his imagination. He was able to experience joy about the things around him like nobody else in the whole family.

One of those joyous occasions was when the family received an invitation from the Sunshine Foundation in Florida. Meeting other children and families there gave Ben his self-confidence back. They helped him to understand why people often stared at him. These family get-togethers always left him with a feeling that he really was someone very special.

Ben started to have serious heart problems when he was eleven. These were very painful. Ben lost this unfair fight in 1993. The last months of his young life were especially difficult. But Ben was a "Sunchild" right up to the very end. He just couldn't live under a dark cloud any longer.