In Memory of Ben Delacour

Benjamin James Delacour

11/11/1983-01/06/2020

My beloved twin, Ben, passed peacefully on Monday, January 6, 2020, after a three-and-a-half year battle with colon cancer. Ben was one of the kindest, gentlest souls and always went out of his way to help others. He was brilliant and funny. Some of the best days of his life were spent with friends (and myself!) at Western Washington University as he earned his B.S. in Computer Science. He had a real connection with the dogs he walked, our dog Auggie and our many cats over the years. He enjoyed being outside, art, dancing, computer programming, fabricating things, and drew personal strength from his extended bicycle rides in the Puget sound area. His thinking was “out-side-of-the-box” and he was a very unique guy.

Ben was treated by oncology doctors and nurses at Seattle Cancer Care Alliance and University of Washington Medical Center for the first few years of this journey. Our entire family is so thankful for the years of care they provided. He was told he’d never be operable, but he became operable on his liver which gave us more time with him. We also received lots of love and support from our local Colon Cancer support group, Colon Stars and an online community called Colontown. Sadly, his cancer progressed on multiple lines of chemo treatment and we were running out of options. In November, he was accepted into a clinical trial at Keck Medicine at University of Southern California so he moved south. We were hopeful about the trial because some patients with his tumor type have had a positive response. Unfortunately, instead of shrinkage and cavitation like some are experiencing, his cancer progressed rapidly on the experimental combo, filling both his lungs with numerous large tumors, and my brother quickly and unexpectedly deteriorated with a cough, pneumonia, a collapsed lung and he was struggling to breathe in the ICU.   

In his last moments, I was able to read to him our favorite story from childhood while lying next to him and holding him. My mom had been napping at our hotel and I told him to “wait for Mama.”   A tear rolled down the side of his eye and he waited; She made it in time to help him cross over. He is out of his suffering after his long courageous battle against this wretched disease but I miss him so, so much.

My mother and I need your support and help right now. There are expenses down here in SoCal related to his care, end-of-life-costs, all the accommodations and UBER rides for my mom and I, food out, and lost work wages as I am out of sick and personal days. We will bring Ben home and have a memorial service for him, possibly in March, so all who loved him can say their good-byes and celebrate his life. There will be costs associated with that as well but I really want to honor my special Ben with a beautiful memorial. We sincerely welcome any amount that will assist us during this time of tremendous loss. Posting and linking this fundraiser on your social media will also help. In the past, your financial contributions helped our family greatly and we can’t thank you enough.

If you have favorite memories to share of Ben, please share them! We love reading them and will share them at his memorial. We also would love any photos you have of him.


Ben, we love you and we will never forget you and our wonderful memories of you!! We are so glad that you are no longer in pain and hope that you are at peace, looking over us. You are always with us.  



My other half, Baby B, "Mr. B."