This past Sunday, April 17 was the 4th Annual Walk for Health Walk-a-Thon PONTE-EN-FORMA at Roberto Clemente State Park in the Bronx. The organizers of the event, the Diversity Foundation and the National Puerto Rican Parade, chose the Cristian Rivera Foundation and DIPG as the cause that would benefit from the walk. I was happy to have this opportunity to raise awareness about the foundation and to raise some funds. The event turned out better than I could have hoped. It was great to see such an outpouring of support from Cristian Rivera Foundation committee members like Edward Caban, J.I. Starr, Tedsmooth, Elis Pacheco, Solange Osorio and Ralph Mercado III, as well as some of the newest members of the CRF family: Carlos “Keyes” Fernandez, Katie DeFlorio, Aldo Marin and Fulvia Lora. I was also honored to be joined by some of the families of children who lost their lives to DIPG, including Fulvia’s nephew Javier “Buji” Villamil, who passed away on January 4, 2010, about eight months after he was diagnosed with DIPG, and Alexander Jonathan Montes, who was diagnosed on December 12, 1997 and died of DIPG on July 27, 1998. It brought out a lot of emotion to see other DIPG families there that day and to walk side-by-side with them, as well as my friends, family and valued Committee Members, in our quest for a cure.

John “Gungie” Rivera
Forever Cristian’s Daddy