Powerful people doing powerful things.
That's the category Theo Epstein fell under with his actions Thursday.
The president of the Cubs, and former Red Sox general manager, released a video of himself nailing a 50-yard kick into a soccer net. The boot was part of a campaign, "#TrickShot4Snowy" which is helping to raise money for ALS research.
The impetus for the project was Chris Snow's current battle with ALS. Snow is an executive with the Calgary Flames who served as the Boston Globe's Red Sox beat writer during part of Epstein's time in Boston. He was diagnosed with ALS June 2019. So far more than $150,000 has been raised through the assistant general manager's Web site. To donate, click here.
To help advance the conversation, Epstein challenges David Ortiz and Pearl Jam singer Eddie Vedder to participate in the challenge.
Theo Epstein connects from 50 yards, donates to #SnowyStrong to fight ALS, and nominates @RedSox's @davidortiz and @PearlJam's Eddie Vedder in the #TrickShot4Snowy challenge.Keep up the fight @ChrisSnowCGY and @NHLFlames! https://t.co/Gh0fqhzh9I #ALSAwarenessMonth pic.twitter.com/s19LLza8Mk
— Chicago Cubs (@Cubs) June 19, 2020Last June 17 I was given one year to live. I should have lost the ability to walk, talk, eat and breathe. Instead, I took three steps back, two to the left and did this #TrickShot4Snowy. What a day this would be if everyone watching this donates $1 at https://t.co/rgWfPCOrpt. pic.twitter.com/mxbpJ3m6bp
— Chris Snow (@ChrisSnowCGY) June 17, 2020In an article posted on the Calgary Flames' Web site, it reads:
Chris Snow, Assistant General Manager of the Calgary Flames, was diagnosed with ALS in June 2019. The most tangible way you can help us 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. And yet this has torn through Chris' family. We have lost Chris' dad, both of Chris' paternal uncles and his 28-year-old cousin to this disease.We know that our hockey family will want to help, and we appreciate that so much. Here's how you can do that.
Donate to the Calgary Flames Foundation to directly fund ALS research and new treatments at the most progressive institutes, including Sunnybrook Brain Sciences Centre in Toronto.
Chris visited Sunnybrook 13 times over a nine-month period to participate in a clinical trial under the supervision of Dr. Lorne Zinman, the founder and first chair of the ALS Research Network. As of May 1 Chris is participating in the same gene therapy study at the University of Calgary under the leadership of Dr. Lawrence Korngut, the longtime chair of the Canadian Neuromuscular Diseases Network. The drug Chris receives every four weeks targets the specific genetic mutation that has devastated Chris' family. Research dollars produced this treatment, and research dollars will accelerate a cure.
