Be Part of Ben's Journey to Fight Cancer!

Benjamin Noetzel is a graduate of Johns Hopkins University. In the summer of 2017, he will be traveling with a group of college-aged students on a 70-day, 4000+ mile ride from Baltimore to Portland, raising money and awareness for the Ulman Cancer Fund for Young Adults.

What is your connection to the cancer community?

In 2013, about 2 months after I left my home town of San Diego, I received a call from my dad that he had tested positive for prostate cancer. Over the next several months the severity of the cancer became clearer and clearer. By the end of that year the writing was on the wall. He had a Gleason score of 9, stage 4. Within a year my greatestadvocate, hero, and friend seemed to be having his life pulled out from beneath him in a fight for survival.

Growing up dad was my best friend. In elementary school he spent the weekends and summers building our house: inviting friends to come help out and learn some construction skills on their time off. He taught me to use a hammer when I was 6 years old pounding in nails as he framed the walls. In high school he help me build my first car, a 73 VW Beetle. We would work late into the night piecing together the engine on a five gallon paint bucket. He painted it a shiny blue in a make shift paint shop in our garage. In college I worked with my dad building