Even though he has been blind since August, former Rye High School hockey player Andrew (Chowder) Kranichfeld plans to be on hand today at Playland Ice Casino for the first of what promises to become an annual fundraising event called the Chowder Cup.

The Chowder Cup is the latest of several fundraisers thrown around Rye by Kranichfeld's former high school classmates, fellow Garnets' hockey players, and friends. The event will take place from 9:45 p.m. to 11:45 p.m.

The hockey scrimmage and ice skating outing is designed to raise funds for Chowder's ongoing medical expenses for treatments for a brain tumor. He has experienced a series of tragic events that began last December, shortly after the death of his mother from cancer.

"It has all been kind of awesome, overwhelming really, to see how many people in Rye care about what has happened to me," Kranichfeld, a 2003 graduate of Rye High School, told Patch.

As he talked, Chowder was on his way up to Vermont to spend Christmas with his two older brothers, Bram, a musician, and Oliver, a former Garnet soccer player, both graduates of Rye High School. Their father, Hank, class of '68 and a general contractor, was at the wheel en route to the family reunion.

Chowder's life took a turn earlier this year. He was working as a freelance production assistant on various films and TV shows, looking to land a full-time job after his graduation from Manhattan College and living in the Bronx.

In March, his mother, Karen, died of leukemia after a seven-year battle with the disease. Two days after her death, Chowder began having blurred vision and headaches, he said.

He immediately went to the hospital, where he was diagnosed with a brain tumor and cancer, he said. He was put on chemotherapy and steroids after doctors misdiagnosed his condition. The tumor still kept pressing on his optical nerve, causing him to lose his eyesight, he said.

Towards the end of July, he turned to a family friend, an ophthalmologist, who sent him to two different eye specialists who, in turn, sent him to Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York City. Doctors at Kettering diagnosed him with germinoma, a treatable type of brain tumor. Chowder's tumor shrank considerably after more than a month of treatment.

Throughout it all, Chowder remembered, his girlfriend, Rayana Lane, who is also a nurse, was a true "godsend," helping him with his medications, injections and other forms of treatment. His close friend, Eddie Urso, was always there to offer moral support, Chowder said.

"The amazing thing was that Chowder was always Chowder. He remained positive and upbeat no matter what was happening," Urso said.

Urso knew Chowder was having financial difficulties after being out of work because of his treatment. He began reaching out to Chowder's former teammates and coach, Dino Garr, about Chowder's ordeal.

"They had no idea what was happening to Chowder. No idea he was blind," Urso said.

But the more Urso talked about Chowder throughout the community, the more he and his friends knew something had to be done to help.

"We came up with the idea for fundraisers," he said. "Kathy McGuire, a graphic designer, designed several posters and fliers and we began posting them around town. Kathy's family owns Kelly's Sea Level, and they threw a benefit, open bar, drinks, food, an afternoon spent watching the Giants game on TV. Lots of people began contributing towards the Chowder Fund."

That led to the recent Rye High School Alumni game this past Wednesday at Playland Ice Casino to raise money for Garnets hockey, with several side events to benefit the Chowder Fund.

Chowder was there. So were former Garnets hockey greats like Don Maloney and brothers Tyler and Marshall Rogers.

"I got chills looking up into the bleachers, seeing so many people who were there to help support me," Chowder said.

Chowder said he hopes the Chowder Cup becomes an annual tradition, one that will benefit him and others. But for now, he is steadily trying to move on with his life, looking forward to getting a guide dog and fine-tuning his computer skills. Urso said Chowder has taken all his struggles in stride.

"Nobody who knows him is really surprised with how well he is dealing with adversity."

For more information, call Playland Ice Casino at (914) 813-7059.