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On Sept. 30, 2023 Calgary Flames ownership, management and staff of Calgary Sports and Entertainment Corporation, along with the entire hockey community mourned the passing of Calgary Flames Vice President of Data/Analytics and Assistant General Manager, Chris Snow. Chris passed this evening following his battle with ALS. He was 42 years old.

Chris was diagnosed with ALS in June 2019. Chris and his wife Kelsie first made his diagnosis public in January 2020, when Chris was featured on Hockey Night in Canada to share the news of his diagnosis. What followed was an outpouring of support and fundraising efforts towards the fight against ALS and for #SnowyStrong. Since then, the Snowy Strong campaign has raised more than half a million to support ALS research and new treatments.

Through the Calgary Flames Foundation, the Snows have directed funds raised which includes $200,000 towards the Hurvitz Brain Sciences Program at Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre in Toronto to help fund an innovative, world-first clinical trial. More than $80,000 is at work at the University of Miami's Miller School of Medicine, an international leader in research into familial ALS - Chris' form of the disease. Plus, $240,000 towards the CAPTURE ALS initiative - a Canadian research platform that unites internationally renowned ALS neurologists and researchers with patients at sites around Canada.

The most tangible way you can support #SnowyStrong is by donating to research. ALS is a rare disease, and rare diseases aren't easily cured. Fewer than 20,000 people in North America are estimated to be living with ALS. Of them only 2,000 are living with familial ALS, the kind caused by a gene passed down within a family. Chris Snow, his dad and both Chris' paternal uncles and cousin have died of this disease. We know that the hockey family has rallied around the Snow family and we could not be more appreciative of that.

Here is how you can support #SnowyStrong:

Donate to the Calgary Flames Foundation to directly fund ALS research and new treatments at the most progressive institutes across Canada:

Beginning in July 2019, Chris participated in a clinical trial that he and his family wholeheartedly believe extended his life. The drug, which targets the specific genetic mutation that has devastated Chris' family and resulted in the deaths of his dad and uncles within 9 months of diagnosis and his cousin within 18 months, is delivered by spinal injection every four weeks. Research dollars produced this treatment, and research dollars will accelerate a cure.

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Donate to the University of Miami's Miller School of Medicine to directly fund ALS research and new treatments

Chris and Chris' dad were diagnosed in Miami by Dr. Michael Benatar, who decades ago founded North America's first and longest-running familial ALS research study. Recently, the study produced the discovery of a neurofilament that can be used to predict onset of symptoms for those with the genetic mutation that runs in Chris' family. That discovery led to the first-ever clinical trial using the medicine Chris gets but on asymptomatic carriers of the same gene. This ability to treat the disease before any symptom presents could prove life altering for future generations of our family. The more funding Dr. Benatar receives, the faster he and his staff can work.

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