NYC Paintball December 3, 2011

The 1st Annual Cristian Rivera Foundation Paintball Tournament will be held at NYC Paintball, located at 47-11 Van Dam St, Long Island City, NY on Saturday December 3, 2011 from 8am-12pm.

Hosted by Robert Vasquez, Cristian Rivera Foundation Committee member, sports marketer, philanthropist and restaurateur, this event will donate all of its proceeds to the Cristian Rivera Foundation, a New York City-based 501(c)(3) that aims to raise awareness of Diffuse Intrinsic Pontine Glioma (DIPG), as well as offer outreach to families dealing with DIPG and fund promising research into its cure.

DIPG is an inoperable brain stem tumor that currently has no cure.
The foundation’s namesake, Cristian Rivera, was 6 years old when he succumbed to the disease in 2009 and his father, John “Gungie” Rivera, started the Cristian Rivera Foundation to ensure no family suffers through the disease the way his did. There are 200 new cases of DIPG diagnosed in the United States each year. Those affected are young children ranging from the ages of 1 to 9 and they are given a median life expectancy of 3-18 months after diagnosis.

The Cristian Rivera Foundation currently supports Dr. Mark Souweidane, the head of pediatric brain and spine surgery at Weill Cornell Medical Center. Inspired by his patient, Cristian Rivera, and other children and their families affected by devastating childhood cancers, Dr. Souweidane will soon be launching a pioneering FDA-approved clinical trial. The innovative use of convection-enhanced delivery (CED) is the first of its kind to administer radio immunotherapy to children with an otherwise incurable tumor.

To register for the paintball tournament, call 212-779-2222 or visithttp://www.cristianriverafoundation.org/events.html to purchase a $75 ticket, which includes paintball gun, protective gear, unlimited balls as well as use of the facilities.