Benjamin Dives

My name is Benjamin Dives. I run a programme called Talk with Death for cancer patients who want to transform their relationship with death. Instead of treating it as an enemy or living in fear, participants learn to face it directly and build a partnership with Death. That shift makes ordinary life more vivid, urgent, and meaningful.

I’m also currently pursuing a Master’s in clinical Psychoneuroimmunology (cPNI) with the Pruimboom Institute in The Netherlands.

Important Disclaimers

The information I share about clinical psychoneuroimmunology, health interventions, and mortality is educational in nature. I am not a licensed medical professional, and nothing I write or discuss should be taken as medical advice.

If you have a cancer diagnosis or serious health condition, please consult qualified healthcare providers before making any decisions about your treatment or care. Do not discontinue or modify medical treatment based on anything you read here.

My work with Talk with Death is focused on psychological and philosophical approaches to mortality, not medical treatment.

A Note on My Past

From 2017-2019, I founded and ran London Block Exchange (LBX), a cryptocurrency exchange. LBX failed in 2019 following a security breach and subsequent poor decisions I made during recovery attempts. Customers lost access to funds before the company closed.

As founder and CEO, I was responsible for the decisions made during that crisis. I failed to adequately protect customer interests during the breach response and recovery process. I understand the financial and emotional harm this caused, and I carry that weight.

What I didn’t know at the time was that I had a frontal lobe brain tumor affecting my cognitive function. My family noticed personality changes beginning in 2018 - the same year we launched - though I wasn’t diagnosed until 2021 after experiencing extreme headaches. I underwent an awake craniotomy to remove as much of the tumour as possible while preserving cognitive function.

This doesn’t excuse the outcomes, but it provides context for decisions that seemed inexplicable even to me at the time.

What I’ve Learnt

Our brains are more fragile than we think. I was making critical business decisions whilst my frontal lobe was being compromised by a growing tumour. None of us know what invisible processes might be affecting our judgement at any given moment. This taught me humility about certainty and the importance of building systems that don’t rely on any single person’s cognitive perfection.

Trust is earned through transparency, not promises. In both crypto and healthcare, people need to understand risks before they commit. Overpromising and underdelivering destroys relationships. I failed at this with LBX, and I’ve carried that lesson forward into how I approach my work with people facing serious illness.

Accountability means sitting with discomfort. For years I avoided addressing LBX publicly because I didn’t want to face the anger or relive my failures. But avoidance is its own form of dishonesty. Facing my own mortality has taught me that we all deserve honesty, especially when things are hard.

If you lost money through LBX, I understand your anger. My diagnosis doesn’t undo that harm.

My Current Work

I’m now living with progressive brain cancer and undergoing specific interventions. This experience has fundamentally changed how I understand mortality, suffering, and what matters. That’s why I’ve dedicated my remaining time to helping others navigate the most difficult passage we all face.

I offer courses for people confronting mortality and existential questions around serious illness and death. My approach combines clinical understanding of psychoneuroimmunology with the philosophical and practical frameworks of death positivity. I’m not teaching from a place of having “beaten” death - I’m teaching from the middle of it, with aggressive brain cancer.

You can learn more about my current work at Talk with Death.