Calgary Flames assistant GM Chris Snow is pictured at his community arena in Calgary, in April 2021.Todd Korol/The Globe and Mail
Chris Snow, the Calgary Flames assistant general manager and vice-president of data and analytics, is not expected to survive after suffering a catastrophic brain injury on Tuesday.
The 42-year-old had battled amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, a fatal disease of the nervous system that affects nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord, for more than four years.
On Wednesday afternoon Kelsie, his wife of nearly 16 years, posted a message on social media that said her husband had become unresponsive on Tuesday and went into cardiac arrest. Although paramedics and doctors were able to restore his heartbeat, he suffered a brain injury caused by lack of oxygen.
“His doctors do not expect him to wake up,” Kelsie wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter. “My chest feels cracked open and hollowed out. Chris is the most beautiful, brilliant person I’ll ever know and doing life without him feels untenable. Hug your people.”
Chris Snow was diagnosed with ALS, often called Lou Gehrig’s disease, in June of 2019. The particular genetic mutation with which he is afflicted is the most aggressive form of the illness and also claimed the lives of his father, two uncles and a cousin.
He has worked for Calgary’s NHL team since 2011 when he was hired as the director of hockey analysis. He was appointed assistant general manager under Brad Treliving three months after he was diagnosed.
Treliving, now general manager of the Toronto Maple Leafs, flew to Calgary on Wednesday to be with Chris and Kelsie.
In an interview with The Globe and Mail two years ago, Treliving described Chris as being “like my little brother.”
‘I have been given a gift and extra time’: Flames assistant GM Chris Snow battles with ALS
“We cannot convey the impact Chris has on our organization, not only in his work but the leadership and positivity he brings,” the Flames said on social media. “Despite his own challenges, he is a beacon of light, uplifting all of us around him.”
During a news conference in Calgary on Wednesday to announce that he was being appointed captain, Flames centre Mikael Backlund called Snow “a fighter” and said, “He has been a big part of my life.”
Craig Conroy, Calgary’s general manager, fought back tears before the news conference began and said, “It just doesn’t seem right to not have him here with us.”
Earlier this summer, Snow was appointed vice-president of data and analytics.
In early 2019, Snow began to feel numbness in the fourth and fifth fingers on his right hand. When diagnosed he was told he had perhaps as little as six months to live.
Within a few weeks, however, he received a drug as part of a clinical trial and it helped arrest the progression of his illness for nearly nine months. He continued to work full time and played shinny on a rink in their neighbourhood.
The couple took to Twitter to talk about his illness shortly after he was diagnosed. In December of 2019, she began to document their life with ALS on her blog, Kelsie Snow Writes. Then she started a podcast called Sorry, I’m Sad, in which she talks about their grief, loss and the importance of hope.
The couple also founded a fundraising organization for people with ALS called #weaksidestrong and were invited to give a presentation on stage during the 2022 NHL awards in Nashville. They received a standing ovation from everyone on hand.
More recently, he had suffered setbacks. In October of 2022 he worked from his hospital bed as he was treated for issues related to aspiration and asthma. He had been hospitalized seven times in 14 months before last December, when he was hospitalized for two weeks and placed on life support twice but rallied.
As recently as this summer, though, he published pictures of himself cutting the grass and enjoying time with his family.
When he and Kelsie met, Chris was a journalist who covered the Red Sox for The Boston Globe, and Kelsie was an intern in the newspaper’s sports department. He was 23 and she was 21. She loved his beautiful smile and blue eyes.
The couple has two children, a son named Cohen and a daughter named Willa.
Marty Klinkenberg