Though ALS took his life after eight years of battling the disease, Mark Kirton continues to inspire patients and fund-raising efforts.
A second Super Fund campaign draw with help from NHL teams that was going to feature Kirton as special guest at a Toronto gala was postponed when former Maple Leaf Kirton died Aug. 17, but not cancelled as friends carried on the campaign.
Monday night, at the Toronto home of Mike Wilson, Kirton’s friend and a well-known Leafs memorabilia collector and appraiser, a $50,000 donation was added to the ALS Super Fund through bids on eight NHL game-night celebrity packages.
Kirton’s player pals from the 1980s — Bruce Boudreau, Rick Vaive and Brad Smith — joined Wilson’s online tribute to Kirton’s efforts. Kirton not only fought ALS, but for the cause of research, streamlining access to medication and getting assistance for family members and caregivers.
Louis Del Re, an ALS patient and fundraiser from the GTA, and his father Gino help host and Leafs memorabilia collector Mike Wilson with Monday night’s draw for NHL game night packages for the late Mark Kirton’s ALS Super Fund.
Given a three-to-five year survival rate, Kirton carried on life as normally as possible, working in real estate and filling his role as husband and father until being restricted to a power chair. He never gave up hope that the path to a cure would be found.
Wilson, with help from his partner, Deb Thuet, kept the ALS-NHL campaign going through ticket sales that included sales of Wilson’s two hockey-themed books.
“Mark was relentless,” said Boudreau, who became an NHL coach and now a TSN analyst. “When I was in Vancouver, he wanted to do an event and came out there (from Toronto), with a couple of friends, though he was in a chair.
“He went to great depths to get his message across, from Newfoundland to B.C. I saw him from the minute he was told he had ALS to his last days. I’d love for us to find a cure in our lifetime.”
Kirton, who played 270 NHL games for three teams, passed at 67.
“I’m so thankful to have a loving family who sacrificed so much of their own life to be there for me every single day,” Kirton said in one of his last posted videos.
Picking the winning tickets on Monday was GTA resident Louis Del Re and his father Gino. Louis was diagnosed two years ago at age 30 and both are active in fund-raising.
Louis Del Re, an ALS patient and fundraiser from the GTA, and his father Gino help host and Leafs memorabilia collector Mike Wilson with Monday night’s draw for NHL game night packages for the late Mark Kirton’s ALS Super Fund.
“This was such a huge thrill for me,” Louis said.
Earlier this year, 24 NHL clubs including all seven Canadian cities, donated game-night packages for four people each that included sweaters, sticks, dinner, meet-and-greet opportunities with team personnel and other perks, with the eight others saving theirs for the 2025-26 season.
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