Ben's Run: A Benefit Race for Children with Cancer Returns for Third Year

For the third time in as many years, members of the Stonegate community in Silver Spring will gather for Ben's Run, an event to raise money for children with cancer and commemorate the life of Ben Goldfogle. Ben, who grew up in Stonegate, died in 2009 at the age of 11 after a six-year battle with leukemia. 

Clare Goldfogle, Ben’s mother, describes her son as “a really, really caring young man.” 

“He never, ever really complained about his situation,” she said. 

Ben was diagnosed with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia at age 5. He spent a lot of time at Children’s National Medical Center in Washington, D.C. the next six years, according to his mother, and underwent two bone marrow transplants. 

“While he didn’t feel well lots of times, he was always somebody who was real positive,” Goldfogle remembers. “If someone else was sick he was more worried about that other person.”

In 2011, the first year the race was held, , raising over $33,000 for the Bone and Marrow Transplant Fund in the Center for Cancer and Blood Disorders at Children’s. A total of more than $80,000 has been donated to the fund in Ben's honor in the past two years. 

“In my mind, that transplant fund treats the sickest children there—the kids with the toughest cases that chemotherapy and radiation alone is not sufficient,” Goldfogle explained. 

“It’s a great way to give back to the hospital that really, really served him well and served so many kids,” she said.

Registration for the walk or run is $25. Supporters can also donate to the fund via Goldfogle’s website, www.bensrun.org, or volunteer to help at the race. 

“Ben had a lot of friends—kids were really important to him—and I think he would be really pleased that we were doing something to help other children in his situation,” Goldfogle said. 

Ben’s Run takes place on Saturday, April 20. Learn more about Ben, the race and the fund at www.bensrun.org. (Also check out their Facebook page.)

A version of this story was previously published on Colesville Patch.