A Dedication to Cristian – September 2021 Newsletter

September is a month of remembrance at the Cristian Rivera Foundation. As many of you know, Cristian’s birthday is on the 13th of September, so our September edition of the CRF newsletter is dedicated to him. It is a heavy thought that Cristian would have been 19 years old this year, but his light continues to touch the world in so many ways.

We want everyone who is involved with our foundation to know that you are the reason we are able to make a difference in the lives of so many DIPG children and families. Cristian would have loved to see so many people coming together to fight for a common cause in his name.

Meet Emma Hall

Emma is a senior at the University of North Alabama. Her major is Journalism and Digital Media Production with a minor in Professional Writing. Emma was born in Huntsville Alabama and raised by her father. He taught her to care for and help those around her. Her dreams including helping as many as she can with her work and art.

She is thankful to the Cristian Rivera Foundation for the opportunity and is ecstatic to connect with others through the foundation. From here, Emma plans to continue her work with social media and writing to produce her own novel.

Meet Zach McKinley

Zach graduated from the University of South Carolina with a Degree in Media Arts and Psychology. Currently he works as a freelance photographer in Columbia SC. Recently he has gotten into graphic design and hopes to hone his skills here at CRF. Eventually Zach would like to move to NYC to work for a media company. In his free time he enjoys rock climbing and learning instruments.

on its base thus spreading DIPG awareness to hundreds of people each day. We garnered several hundred dollars in donations because of it and are so grateful to Vito for using this as an opportunity to spread DIPG awareness and raise funds for our mission. Full Steam Ahead!

At the end of August, Emiliano was readmitted to the hospital for mild dehydration and had to be fed through a nasogastric tube. While his doctors were removing this tube for one in his stomach, he went into cardiac arrest. He was not awake for hours at a time but opened his eyes for our founder John while FaceTiming him.

In our most recent update, Emiliano has been doing much better. He is out of intensive care and is now able to breathe on his own. There is nothing more we can say than that Emiliano is a true fighter and a miracle.

On Sat, August 28th, the Cristian Rivera Foundation welcomed guests on our 5th Annual CRF Boat Ride. It was a night filled with amazing performances by George Lamond and Samy P El Conde, and incredible DJs like Big Paul, Rob Lo, Michael Narvaez, and Steelo.

The performances of the night were definitely a highlight. Everyone was on their feet dancing and smiles and laughter were the only things heard with the music. Accentuating the legacy of Cristian and the foundation, the event joined people together to celebrate and bring awareness to DIPG.

On Sat, July 17th, we hosted our 4th Annual Cristian Rivera Foundation Full Steam Ahead 5K at Van Cortlandt Park in the Bronx. After months of planning the event, we were so excited to see an amazing turnout.

We were honored to have a special visit from NBC anchor Darlene Rodriguez who sits on our Board of Directors, NYC Mayoral Candidate and Guardian Angels founder Curtis Sliwa, and Cindy Campbell, the Director of the Children’s Brain Tumor Project during the event’s proceedings.

The Cristian Rivera Foundation would like to thank you for staying up-to-date with all our happenings. As Fall quickly approaches, we think we had an excellent summer as a foundation all because of you. We have so much to look forward to with the final quarter of the year and our 12th Celebrity Gala approaching. We hope you will continue to join us as we round out 2021 with a bang.

What is DIPG
(Diffuse Intrinsic Pontine Glioma)?

Diffuse Intrinsic Pontine Glioma or DIPG, is a Rare, Inoperable Brain Stem Tumor that predominantly affects children between the ages of 2 and 10. Only 200-300 cases are discovered in the United States each year and because there is no cure, it’s young victims only have an average of 3-18 months to live, after they’ve been diagnosed. There are NO SURVIVORS.

Who is
The Cristian Rivera Foundation?

The Cristian Rivera Foundation is a 501 (c)(3) Non-Profit Organization that works tirelessly, in order to raise awareness and funds to one day put a STOP to this disease. The Cristian Rivera Foundation funds the work of Dr. Mark Souweidane of Weill Cornell Medical Center – Memorial Sloane (Kettering) Cancer Center and Dr. Oren Becher of Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital and the Lurie Cancer center at Northwestern University. Both Doctors are conducting promising research and trials that have shown promising results. We are CLOSE to a CURE!

• Help us by making a Donation.
• Every Donation Big or Small, will help us achieve our goal.
• Help spread the word to your family, friends and Colleagues.

Founder:
John “Gungie” Rivera
"Forever Cristian’s Daddy"

Board of Directors:
Carlos Yepez and Darlene Rodriguez.

Committee Members:
Aldo Marin, Carlos Colon, Fernando Ferrer,
Francesco Quattrone, Jarrad Seuferling,
Kenan Thompson, Luis Guzman,
Meiling Macias Toro, Melinda Colon Cox,
Paul Pristavec, Rafael Toro, Rena Kliot,
and Steve Cox.

Supporters:
David Rodriguez, Edward Caban,
Karla De Epstein, Michael V. Narvaez,
And Vito Bruno.

Chairman of the Board:
Andy Epstein


Director:
Sarde Laurente

Committee Friends:
Alberto Torres, Alex Garcia,
Maggie Meehan, Mark Rosner,
and Vanessa Rodriguez




Honorary Committee Members:
The Late Anthony Mason
and The Late Miriam Colon.

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