Calgary Flames assistant general manager Chris Snow has been diagnosed with ALS and has been receiving treatment for several months, his wife, Kelsie, revealed in a letter posted to the team’s website Wednesday.
Kelsie Snow said that the 38-year-old from Melrose, Mass., went to Miami to see ALS doctors and researchers and was told that he is in the early stages of the motor neuron disease. Chris Snow was then enrolled in a clinical drug trial of a gene therapy treatment that targets the mutation that has also affected other members of his family. Last year, his father died from the disease. Both of his paternal uncles, as well as his 28-year-old cousin also died from ALS.
Kelsie Snow said doctors told her the drug attempts to silence the effects of the mutated gene and were hopeful that it could stop the progression of the disease.
“And so we are leaning into that possibility, as hard as we can, working to stay positive and living with intention every single day. And now we believe we have results to lean into as well,” she said.
“Chris has been in the trial for several months, and while we do not know whether he is on the actual drug or a placebo, the disease since that initial dose does not seem to have progressed. His right hand and forearm remain the only affected areas of his otherwise strong and healthy body.”
“Someone has to be the first person to live with ALS rather than die from it, and one thing I’ve always known about Chris is that he finds a way. No matter the obstacle, no matter how unprecedented the situation may be — he always, always finds a way.”
Kelsie Snow is asking for the hockey community to help with the research and treatment of the disease by supporting a study of the pre-symptomatic stage of ALS in hopes of being able to delay or prevent its onset.
“Be positive and hopeful with us, pray for us in whatever way you pray, and don’t treat us — most especially Chris — differently than you always have. He is the same person today he was yesterday and he will be the same person tomorrow and in two months and beyond. Hug your family, wring all the joy from each moment of your life, play with your children, and be present — all things at which Chris has always been wonderful.”
“Continue to love us and love our kids. Of all the devastation this diagnosis brought, the idea of telling the two of them they were going to lose their dad was the most crushing. But now we have hope and, we believe, a different story.”
Chris Snow was named assistant GM in September and has been with the Flames since 2011, starting his career as the team’s director of hockey analysis.
Prior to his career in the NHL, Snow worked as a sports reporter covering the Minnesota Wild and Boston Red Sox. He joined the Wild as director of hockey operations in 2006, working with the team until 2010.
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