When interviewed by Make-A-Wish, Ben's wish was to design a video game in which cancer cells were eaten to help other children visualize fighting their cancer and help them to cope with cancer treatments. He remembered his oncologist telling him to think of chemotherapy as eating cancer cells. When Make-A-Wish first approached gaming companies - their requests to help create a cancer-fighting video game were denied. Make-a-Wish Executive Director Patricia Wilson was told that a video game would take upwards of US$1,000,000 and possibly years to create. Ms. Wilson sought the help of her Board of Directors and within days the request to fulfill Ben's wish was posted on several gaming sites. Inquiries and offers to assist began immediately from game designers in the UK, Israel, Canada and the United States. One particular offer came from a Bay Area game designer who offered to spearhead the entire game design on one condition: that he have a chance to meet and work with Ben directly. Eric Johnston, a software engineer from LucasArts met with Ben weekly for 6 months and together, they created Ben's Game. Ben's own pediatric oncologist served as medical adviser for the game upon condition that UCSF Children's Hospital be the first medical facility to have the game installed for children to play.
