Remembering Chris Snow: Hockey Executive Who Battled A.L.S. Passes at 42
Chris Snow, the assistant general manager of the NHL’s Calgary Flames, passed away on Saturday in Calgary, Alberta. After receiving a diagnosis of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or A.L.S., in 2019, Snow rose to prominence as a champion for those who had the debilitating condition. He was 42.
His wife, Kelsie Snow, made the announcement of his passing on Saturday night on X, the website that replaced Twitter.
“Today we hugged Chris for the last time and said goodbye as he went to give four people the gift of life by donating his kidneys, liver and lungs,” she wrote. “We are deeply broken and deeply proud. In life and in death, Chris never stopped giving. We walk forward with his light guiding us.”
She had reported on X on Wednesday that Mr. Snow had experienced a heart attack following a “catastrophic brain injury.”
Doctors told him a year to live when they discovered that he had the illness. His father had passed away from A.L.S. just a few months earlier, proving that the illness ran in the Snow family. It also claimed the lives of Mr. Snow’s cousin and two uncles.
However, Mr. Snow survived for a lot longer than expected, and in the years that followed, he and his wife documented their journeys and turned into supporters for other patients by sponsoring social media campaigns to increase awareness of the condition and collect money for research.
Doctors told him a year to live when they discovered that he had the illness. His father had passed away from A.L.S. just a few months earlier, proving that the illness ran in the Snow family. It also claimed the lives of Mr. Snow’s cousin and two uncles.
However, Mr. Snow survived for a lot longer than expected, and in the years that followed, he and his wife documented their journeys and turned into supporters for other patients by sponsoring social media campaigns to increase awareness of the condition and collect money for research.
“A.L.S. is not an incurable disease,” Mr. Snow told the Canadian sports broadcaster Sportsnet in an interview soon after his diagnosis was revealed. “It’s an underfunded disease. And it’s underfunded because so few people have it.”
After the diagnosis, he participated in a gene therapy research study. He was initially unable to determine whether he was part of a placebo group. But the disease’s atrophy slowed down.
“In a no-hope situation, I suddenly had a chance,” Mr. Snow told Syracuse University, his alma mater, in an article on its website.
The Snows first documented their life with A.L.S on Ms. Snow’s blog and in social media posts. Later, they did so in a podcast called “Sorry, I’m Sad,” which invited other people to share their experiences with loss and grief.
“What happens then — when you go from no hope to real, true hope — is you feel high,” Ms. Snow wrote in one of her first blog posts after the diagnosis was publicly revealed. “You feel everything. You feel like you’ll never stop appreciating every single breath you take. You feel like life is brand-new. And you feel desperate — utterly desperate — to hold on to that hope, completely terrified of someone taking it away or diminishing it even a little.”
Because, as it turns out, hope is everything, she said.
Despite the fact that Mr. Snow’s condition deteriorated, he continued to appear in public, even throwing out the opening pitch at Fenway Park prior to a Boston Red Sox game in 2021. Mr. Snow covered the Red Sox for The Boston Globe before becoming a hockey executive, and it was there that he first met Ms. Snow, then Kelsie Smith, in 2005. She worked as a freelance author.
Through their public posts, the Snows consistently expressed optimism and candor about their personal lives, including both the highs and lows. This past week, Ms. Snow wrote on X, “My chest feels cracked open and hollowed out.” “Living without him feels impossible. Hug your loved ones.
Christopher Michael Snow was raised in Melrose, Massachusetts, where he was born on August 11, 1981. His mother, Linda Snow, was a stay-at-home mom, and his father, Robert Snow, was a teacher.
He received his degree from Syracuse University in 2003, interned at The Los Angeles Times, and then began writing about the Minnesota Wild of the National Hockey League for The Star Tribune in Minneapolis. In 2006, he gave up his job as a journalist to work as a front office executive with the Wild, where he remained until 2010. The next year, the year of his diagnosis, he was employed by the Flames in a position with a focus on statistical and video analysis. He eventually worked his way up to become assistant general manager.
Mr. Snow is survived by his wife, children Cohen, 12, and Willa, 9, as well as his sister Colleen Snow.
Igor Burdetskiy
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