The wife of Chris Snow says the Calgary Flames assistant general manager has suffered a “catastrophic” brain injury after going into cardiac arrest and is not expected to recover.
Kelsie Snow said Wednesday on social media that her husband became unresponsive and suffered a heart attack on Tuesday.
She said paramedics and doctors were able to get his heart beating again, but suffered a brain injury due to a lack of oxygen. She said his doctors do not expect him to wake up from the injury.
“My chest feels cracked open and hollowed out,” Kelsie Snow wrote. “Chris is the most beautiful, brilliant person I’ll ever know and doing life without him feels untenable.
“Hug your people.”
Chris Snow, 42, was diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) in 2019.
ALS is a progressive nervous system disease affecting brain cells and the spinal cord, and causes a loss of muscle control.
Snow’s father, two uncles and a cousin also died of what’s also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease.
Gehrig, a New York Yankee, was diagnosed with it at age 36 and died in 1941.
Chris and Kelsie Snow met when they were both sportswriters for The Boston Globe and were married in 2007. They have two children, Cohen and Willa.
Chris Snow was a baseball writer when the NHL’s Minnesota Wild hired him as their director of hockey operations in 2006.
When the Wild made changes, the Flames brought Snow on board in 2011 as director of hockey analysis. He was promoted to AGM in 2019 and worked primarily in data analysis.
Snow continued to work for the Flames after his diagnosis. He participated in clinical trials and lived well beyond the bleak 12-month prognosis he was given.
ALS weakened his muscles and hampered his ability to speak, eat and eventually breathe.
“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. Our hearts are with Kelsie, Cohen and Willa as Chris continues to battle.”
Chris Snow, who has ALS, Calgary Flames vice-president of data and analytics and assistant GM, attends a press conference in Calgary on May 23, 2023.
THE CANADIAN PRESS/Larry MacDougal
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