Finding Ironman: A Refugee’s Journey through Trauma to Discovering Healing
Contributions from FāVS from readers like you make this news story possible. Thank you.
News Story by Matthew Kincanon | FāVS News
For 46-year-old Ben Tran, who lives in North Idaho, much of his early life involved loss and fighting for survival. From attempting to flee Vietnam when he was a child, to losing family, the father of seven children was able to find direction and purpose through Ironman and seeks to instill hope through his life story.
Fleeing Vietnam
He was only 6-years-old when his family attempted to flee Vietnam in 1983 when communist forces were taking over.
“For most immigrants like us, boat refugees, we sold everything we had and we brought with us gold, silver and jewelry, and we paid a captain to get on a tiny little fishing boat,” he said, describing how he, his mom and grandma became refugees. “There was over a hundred of us stuffed like sardines on this fishing boat.”
The fishing boat was so packed, Tran said, that there was no room to move. He and his fellow refugees faced peril while out at sea.
At one point the boat broke down for days. They were running out of food and drink, and Tran described how he remembered drinking salt water for survival. Some refuge came for the passengers when it started to rain. Everyone on the boat praised God that they were able to survive through collecting rainwater, Tran recalled.
“I remember drinking from the tarp the rainwater was dripping down. We were laying on the bottom deck and we took a tin can and the water was dripping in there and we survived with water,” he said.
They were also robbed by fishermen, but Tran said nobody was hurt because they cooperated.
Things became dire for the refugees on the boat as they continued to face hunger while out at sea. Then one day, Tran said they saw a ship from afar and the captain ordered the women and children to the upper deck to get the ship’s attention.
The ship saw them and took them to an island. However, Tran said the ship was from the Soviet Union, which was an ally of Vietnam. Once on the island, Tran, his family and the refugees were taken to a refugee prison where they were imprisoned for a month.
Tran said each person was given a tin cup of rice for survival, but some of the men were so hungry that they resorted to fighting each other to get the rice for themselves.
“My mom told me to throw away the cup so that way I don’t get noticed and get beaten up,” Tran said. “I put the rice in my pajamas pocket and when no one was watching I would eat it.”
After spending a month as prisoners, Tran said he, his mom and grandma were sent back to Ho Chi Minh City, and started from scratch.
Even though their attempt to flee was unsuccessful, Tran’s dad (who fled separately) made it to the U.S. and was able to sponsor his son to go over there in 1991 (who was 13-years-old by then). Tran became a U.S. citizen when he was 18-years-old.
Loss in the U.S. and Finding God and Ironman
Despite finally getting out of Vietnam, hardship still followed Tran and his family in the U.S.
He first lived in Hawaii, later moving to California.
In high school, Tran was looking for belonging while his mom worked seven days a week. This led him to joining a gang. However, once he witnessed how they groomed high school kids to commit crimes for them, he got out and found his way to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
He then went on a two-year mission in New Jersey where he learned everything he needed to prepare for what would come next.
When Tran was 26-years-old and preparing to get married, his mom died of stage IV breast cancer. Two years later his dad died of cancer, followed by his 17-year-old sister two years afterwards.
“So, my family was wiped-out,” he said.
He was lost, devastated, depressed and looking for direction in his life.
Sometime after moving to the Inland Northwest, he found Ironman. Ironman is a long-distance triathlon consisting of swimming, cycling and a marathon for a total of 140.6 miles.
“Ironman saved my life, gave me direction and hope,” Tran said. “I saw the people finishing the race and I started crying because I had so much trauma in my life and I needed an outlet to heal. So instead of turning to addictions like drugs or alcohol, I decided to challenge myself to do an Ironman.”
He registered for Ironman Coeur d’Alene in 2010. He learned to swim, started running, bought his first road bike, and embarked on a journey of healing.
Tran competed in his ninth full Ironman in 2023. He’s also done many other races, marathons and half Ironmans, with others joining him.
“It doesn’t matter where you are in life, if you have challenges in life, if you need a way to improve yourself come with me and I will help you as a friend to help you be healthy, to push your limits, and to feel happy and find purpose in life,” he said.
Supporting Indigenous People
When he is not running in races, he is running his marketing company Tran Creative, which raises awareness to Indigenous issues and programs, including The Healing Lodge of the Seven Nations.
Angelena Campobasso, business operations director of The Healing Lodge’s Residential Treatment Center and citizen of the Colville Confederated Tribes, said Tran’s company created posters, T-shirt and sweatshirt designs and an e-invite website for the grand opening of the clinic’s news facility that was held earlier this month in Spokane Valley, Washington.
She is looking forward to having him do more design work for the clinic, describing his work as “very tasteful, artistic, moving, and inspirational.”
Tran’s business approach is to work with people regardless if they have money or not. For Tribes and groups that don’t have the funds, Tran said they donate their services to them.
Through his work, Tran has developed friendships with Tribal citizens across the Inland Northwest, with some joining him in his athletic ventures.
“When I am in this man’s presence, I truly believe he is an angel put on this earth to serve us humans, to make the wrongs, right,” Campobasso said. “He understands how to work with Native Americans, how to unlock the full potential of an organization’s will, he captures the essence of what we are trying to accomplish. He truly listens, takes our stories, and makes them into reality on paper, and our marketing materials.”
A Message of Hope and Gratitude
Tran hopes his story will help give people strength and hope, as well as put things in perspective, especially for those who are struggling and think they are alone.
“What I want people to get out of my story is hope. Hope is the number one thing,” he said. “Because I think if you have hope you can do great things.”
He added that he hopes people will feel gratitude from his story as well. Taking care of his mom for two years when she had cancer developed a sense of gratitude in him regarding his health. Every day he wakes up, he feels gratitude in his heart because he is healthy.
“When I wake today and I have no pain, I can breathe … it is the greatest gift God has ever given to me, and so I want to live today the best day possible and make God proud that I can make a difference and not waste today,” he said.
With his message of hope and gratitude, Tran wants people to always be the best versions of themselves, continue to grow and bless the lives of those they come into contact with every day.
