About > History
It Started with AVMSurvivors.org
In 2006, Ben Munoz suffered a rare form of stroke called an arteriovenous malformation (AVM). Unable to find the support he was looking for on the internet, he created a patient community AVMSurvivors.org to find others like him.
Patient Communities for Others
When Ben started to connect with other AVM survivors, it became apparent that "community is the best medicine." His good friends Scott Orn and Eric D. Kroll joined Ben in founding Ben's Friends, with the sole focus of creating and operating safe, compassionate patient communities for people who need them.
Real Lives Changed
Communities
27 communities launched... and counting.
· Acute Disseminated Encephalomyelitis (ADEM)
· ADHD/ADD
· Adrenoleukodystrophy (ALD)
· Arteriovenous Malformation (AVM)
· Ataxia (International)
· Ataxia (U.S.A.)
· Atrial Septal Defect
· Autism
· Brain Aneurysms
· Charcot Marie Tooth (CMT)
· Chiari Malformation
· Chronic Inflammatory Demyelinating Polyneuropathy (CIDP)
· Crohn's Disease
· Disabilities
· Eagle Syndrome
· Erythromelalgia
· Fibromyalgia
· Glossopharyngeal Neuralgia (GPN)
· Hepatitis C
· Lupus
· Multiple Myeloma
· Myositis
· Primary Sclerosing Cholangitis (PSC)
· Psoriatic Arthritis (PsA)
· Synovial Sarcoma
· Trigeminal Neuralgia (TN)
· Von Willebrand's Disease (VWD)
Are you in crisis? Please call 1-800-273-TALK
Sponsor a Community
Ben’s Friends is made up of an army of volunteers and relies on donations to fund operations.
Make a One-Time Donation
Your one-time donation goes directly towards supporting our patient communities.
4 Quick Ways You Can Help
1. Tell a friend or relative that we may have a community for them. Our communities are listed on the left side of this page.
2. Tell journalists and bloggers about our story and our mission.
3. Help us launch a new patient community for someone you know. Email info@bensfriends.org.
4. Help our Google rankings by linking to BensFriends.org or any community from any web site you can.
