"One of the things that we've been trying to do is start a Rett clinic here at Children's Hospital," said Benjamin, the father of four children. "This was a great avenue to be able to get the money to get that started."
Twelve years ago, Todd and Carole Benjamin gave birth to Samantha.
"She was beautiful. We didn't think anything was wrong with her," said Carole Benjamin, Samantha's mother.
But less than a year later, something was wrong with her and the Benjamins didn't know why.
"Then when she turned three years old, she started having seizures," said Carole Benjamin. "I think for me that was the key and things started to stop."
Samantha stopped talking. She couldn't walk. She stopped crawling.
"We were looking for answers for four years," said Carole Benjamin. "It was until she was 5 years [old] that we got the diagnosis of Rett Syndrome."
The Benjamins had never heard of Rett Syndrome, let alone understand how it can affect children. Doctors sometimes misdiagnose it as autism or cerebral palsy, but it's a neurological disease that almost exclusively affects girls.
"It's a lot of pain and suffering," said Carole Benjamin.
A few months ago when Todd Benjamin was shopping for a refrigerator, he saw a notice for a national contest called "What would you do with a billion points?" Sears and Kmart put on the competition. People across the country put together videos to try to win support for a particular cause.
"44,740 videos, I believe that were submitted," said Todd Benjamin. "So, a huge number of videos."
A.J., Sean, and Megan appeared on a 45 second video with their sister Samantha. They talked about Rett Syndrome and how if they win they would donate their winnings towards finding a cure.
"I never thought we would win," said 13-year-old Sean Benjamin.
But, they got their family, friends, and members of the Rocky Mountain Rett Association to vote online for their video.
"I was kinda hoping that we would win to get money," said 8-year-old Megan Benjamin.
They did.
"I found out and I was just in disbelief," said Todd Benjamin.
They won $273,870 in Sears and Kmart product value.
The Benjamins will donate all their winnings to the Rocky Mountain Rett Association, St. Jude's Children's Research Hospital and to help The Children's Hospital start a clinic for Rett Syndrome and other disorders.
"Raising the standard of care for girls, here, not just in Denver, but in the whole region," said Todd Benjamin.
If you want to see their video, click here: https://sears.promo.eprize.com/billion/gallery?id=104672&cp=vote&sms_ss=email.
They want to create more awareness about Rett Syndrome and they believe that with a dedicated clinic at Children's a cure can be found.
"We easily see a cure in 10 years and we really believe that," said Todd Benjamin. "The idea that we could have, have no more girls go through this. It's worth everything."
(KUSA-TV © 2010 Multimedia Holdings Corporation)