Hi, I’m Ben, one of the two camera guys that help make the videos for Moving Mountains for Multiple Myeloma. If you’re out there with us, I’m the shorter one with the blue backpack. My favorite given trail names: Big Booty Ben, Benyonce and Street Meat (don’t eat the roadside beef kabobs by Kilimanjaro…).

Just a few days ago, I’m at a dinner party with my Portland family of friends, and as we round the table sharing what’s new in our lives, this trip to Nepal is, obviously, my big news. After replying to the first couple of questions, I lean forward and interject, “Yeah, all that stuff is going to be jaw dropping, but here’s what I’m really excited about…” And, so MM4MM blog family friends, I’d love to share the same sentiments about this upcoming seventh trip.

Some of the team are outdoor veterans, but amazingly, some may have little or zero backpacking experience before signing up for this nine-day trek to Base Camp. I’m honored to meet soon-to-be-friends that have been in the fight of their lives, figuratively and literally. This group, either personally or supportively, have looked into the void and squared their shoulders to that unknown, and this trek is a small physical representation of the greater uphill battle they’ve endured. Every mountain viewpoint is more than just a new vantage: It’s a new day, it’s an experience that wasn’t promised and is now celebrated. Hugs are given tighter than we do in normal settings. Many smiles are deepened by happy tears. Each breath, even in thin air, is breathed deeply. We will start as strangers and end as family. And, while awareness needs to be shared of this nasty cancer, this program has raised over a million dollars of real world research to get multiple myeloma under control.

Ok, I definitely didn’t come up with “looked into the void and squared their shoulders” at the dinner table, But its true, and all these MM4MM trips have embodied it.

One last separate thing, after the MM4MM Machu Picchu trek, I came home to news over beers that my close friend was diagnosed with multiple myeloma. Now, this week before leaving for this MM4MM trip, I get a call he just left the hospital having gotten through stem cell replacement. I can’t wait to get a few videos on this trip of encouragement for him, to show him others that have kicked ass, proven life with multiple myeloma is a definition in flux and encourage him that others are fighting on his behalf while he recovers.

I’m not sure how to end this other than, I am truly honored to sweat, huff and puff, and carry a camera for this endeavor.