Soldiers of the Military Proudly Present A Run/Walk-A-Thon to Benefit the Cristian Rivera Foundation November 13, 2011

New York, NY—Soldiers of the Military announced that a run/walk-a-thon will be held on Sunday November 13, 2011 to benefit the Cristian Rivera Foundation, a New York City-based 501(c)(3) that aims to help children suffering from a rare, inoperable brain stem tumor known as Diffuse Intrinsic Pontine Glioma (DIPG).

The run/walk-a-thon will take place at Joe Michael’s Mile, located at Totten Avenue by the Cross Island Parkway in Queens. Registration begins at 8am and the run/walk-a-thon will take place from 10am to 1pm. To register for the run/walk-a-thon or to sponsor a participant, call Amee Hernandez at 631-481-6768 or visit http://cristianriverafoundation.org/events.html.

The Cristian Rivera Foundation is dedicated to raising awareness of DIPG, offering outreach to families dealing with the disease, and donating money to fund research into its cure. The foundation was started in 2009 after its namesake, Cristian Rivera, lost his two-year battle with DIPG when he was only 6 years old. DIPG affects children primarily between the ages of 1 and 9, robbing them of their ability to speak, walk, eat and move before taking their lives. Few DIPG patients live past two years, with the median survival rate falling between three and 18 months. There are currently no recorded survivors.

The Cristian Rivera Foundation proudly supports Dr. Mark Souweidane, a neurosurgeon at Memorial Sloan-Kettering and the Director of the Weill Cornell Pediatric Brain and Spine Center. Inspired by his patient Cristian Rivera and other children and their families affected by devastating childhood cancers, Dr. Souweidane will be launching a pioneering FDA-approved clinical trial this fall. The innovative use of convection-enhanced delivery (CED) will be the first of its kind to administer radio immunotherapy to children with an otherwise incurable tumor. The doctor has worked for the past 12 years to cure the inoperable tumor, which takes the life of 200 children in the United States every year.
For more information on the Cristian Rivera Foundation, visit www.cristianriverafoundation.org.