On Tuesday May 17th, I attended the Children’s Brain Tumor Foundation’s Ninth Annual Dreams and Promises Gala at the Marriott Marquis in Times Square. It was a beautiful event and it was great to be there with so many other families and doctors dealing with brain tumors. Joe Fay of the Children’s Brain Tumor Foundation was nice enough to introduce me around. I got to meet some amazing people, including Dr. Jeffrey Allen from NYU Langone Medical Center, who is caring for Jordan Malave, a remarkable 5-year-old boy I met back in December. He was diagnosed with DIPG more than two years ago. I also got to see Dr. Jeffrey Wisoff, who is also from NYU Langone Medical Center. I’m a big fan of his and he was nice enough to look at Cristian’s scans for me as another opinion when Cristian was first diagnosed with DIPG. I found that many of the people I met at the gala were aware of the work we’ve been doing at the Cristian Rivera Foundation. It feels great when other people recognize the Foundation’s hard work. So many incredible things have happened lately, like major breakthroughs in research that have given the DIPG community more reason for hope than ever before. I realize more so than ever why I’m doing this. I want to see this disease cured and I am proud to have a part in the progress that gets us there.

John “Gungie” Rivera
Forever Cristian’s Daddy