ALS Canada ambassador for Project MinE, Chris McCauley, sadly passed away on the 9th of August. He became ambassador for Project MinE because, as he put it, ‘I feel I can make a difference’ and ‘this project gives hope for the future’. We feel that he certainly has made a difference by giving his support to this worldwide genetics project. In his memory the international researchers connected to Project MinE are committed to their search for the causes of this brutal disease.

After his diagnosis, Chris – a former hockey player, policy research analyst and social worker –became keenly interested in ALS research. Given the multiple causes, numerous disease pathways, and the different ways and rates at which ALS progresses and the variations in survival, he was struck by the immense challenges researchers face in developing a treatment or cure for the disease.

To Chris, the promise of Project MinE is tremendous as it will make ALS easier to study and has great potential to lead to effective treatments. He brought his voice to Project MinE in Canada to help make things better for people who will be diagnosed with ALS in the future. As he put it, “I think of others who will come after me and like me, lose the blossom of their health so insidiously. I want to do something to make it better.”

“Project MinE has the potential to change many people’s lives worldwide, by giving scientists a genetic map and compass that will mark the trail that will lead us to tangible breakthroughs in ALS research.”
Chris McCauley, † August 2017