The Third Annual Gala is less than a week away. I have been working so hard to make it a success. Each year so far has been an improvement on the last and I want this year to be the best one yet. I’ve been in the office seven days a week to make sure we reach our goal to not only make a great event in honor of Cristian but to raise enough money that we can give Dr. Souweidane a much bigger donation than last year.

I know Cristian supports the hard work I’ve been putting into this gala. He showed me with two blessings this week. One happened this morning as I was driving to NBC studios to appear on NBC’s Visiones with Lynda Baquero with committee member Kenan Thompson to talk about the gala and about DIPG. The traffic was horrendous. I got on the highway and there were wall to wall cars as far as the eyes could see. So I said, “Cristian, I need you to look out for me or else I won’t make it to the interview.” Within a few minutes, the roads cleared up. The disabled car moved over to the side. Even though it was rush hour, there was no more traffic all the way to the front of NBC.

The second blessing happened in my office yesterday. Cristian loved Thomas the Train so much. All I wanted was to have Sir Topham Hatt at my son’s gala. I tried to contact Hit Entertainment, who owns the rights to all the Thomas the Train characters, but they never got back to me. I was worried we weren’t going to be able to make it happen, but then who should walk into my office but Jonathan Doucet. He was dressed in a black suit and black hat, and he was bald. He looked almost exactly like Sir Topham Hatt! I was so excited, and Jonathan has agreed to be Sir Topham Hatt at the gala. He had come to meet with someone else in the office but clearly it was fate…and by fate I mean Cristian once again guiding me and helping me. I know he will be smiling down on us on Monday and saying “All Aboard” right along with Sir Topham Hatt.

John “Gungie” Rivera
Forever Cristian’s Daddy