Matthew Evan Snodgrass

a valiant battle against brain cancer since he was first diagnosed in 1998

at age 9. Matt was born in Las Vegas on May 29, 1988. He was at home with

his father, mother and sister Sarah at the time of his passing. Matt was at

peace and ready to move forward to his eternal life.

Matt attended many schools in the city beginning at Our Lady of Las Vegas,

Las Vegas Day School, Faith Lutheran Jr/Sr High School, Bonanza High School

and graduated from Spring Valley High School in 2006.

Matt attended UNLV for his freshman year but early in his sophomore year

felt it too difficult to continue his education as he began chemotherapy.

Matt¹s long history of survivorship took him to UCSF for a second opinion,

Mayo Clinic in Rochester, MN for a 3rd opinion. He became the poster child

of rare cancers that research dollars were not available for, nor any

clinical trials. He endured ten surgeries by the same neuro-surgeon to

remove recurrent tumors and traveled to Chicago Children¹s Hospital for one

of them. He went to Reno, NV for Cyber knife treatment, and Cancer Treatment

Centers of America in Phoenix, AZ.

Throughout his battle he always showed that genuine, heartwarming smile.

Matt is a hero to so many as he donated so unselfishly of his time to

organizations to help raise awareness to childhood cancer and survivorship

and attended cancer camps throughout the west. His gift was touching the

lives of so many, whether young or old, through his positive attitude and

optimistic spirit.

Matt was a 2001 recipient of his dream trip through the Make-A-Wish

Foundation and played golf on July 4 at the Old Course at St. Andrews,

Scotland. At Edinburg¹s Holy rood Castle he and his family met and spoke

with Queen Elizabeth & Prince Phillip. (Matt¹s remains will be returned to

St. Andrews at a later date).

He was honored in 2007 with the Ray of Hope award by Candlelighter¹s of So.

NV and played in their annual golf tournament. He helped start the American

Cancer Society¹s Relay For Life in his senior year at Spring Valley High

School and continued to walk the survivors lap each spring to kick off their

annual event. In 2006 he rode for 8 hours on the 100 mile Leukemia &

Lymphoma Society¹s Lake Tahoe bike ride. He played in a foursome with Coach

Lon Kruger in the Coaches vs. Cancer Tournament and annually flew to San

Antonio, TX to play in their Teed Off at Cancer fundraiser. Matt was part of

the trip to Washington, DC advocating for cancer research funds with Lance

Armstrong.

Wanting to pass on a legacy, in 2008 Matt started his own non-profit

foundation to help other young adults like himself work through some of the

issues he faced from a pediatric diagnosis to survivorship into adulthood.

He set up a scholarship program so that these survivors would be able to

continue their education and awarded the first one to this year¹s graduate

from Spring Valley High School who contributed to the success of their

annual Relay For Life over the past 4 years.

Matt is survived by his parents, Mark and Sharman Snodgrass of Las Vegas,

sisters Sarah Snodgrass of New York City, Angela Battaglia Evans of Park

City, UT (brother-in-law Fen Evans); Grandparents Peggy Hamel of Reno, NV,

Don & Pat Snodgrass of Los Osos, CA.; Aunts Leslie Bunch of Anguilla, BWI,

Rev. Gail Snodgrass of Austin, TX, Charla Vieira of Las Vegas and Uncle/Aunt

Gregg & Debbie Choltko of Henderson. Matt was an uncle to Jack & Kate Evans

of Park City, UT and had six cousins: Starr Irving, Amanda Bunch, Devyn and

Kyle Choltko, Brittany Salazar and Chris Price. His grandparents Rose Choltko

of Las Vegas and Vince Choltko of Ventnor City, NJ preceded Matt in death.

Visitation will be held at Palm Mortuary 1600 South Jones Blvd. on Monday, July 25 from

3-6pm and Funeral Mass will be held on Tuesday, July 26 at 10am at Our Lady

of Las Vegas Catholic Church, where Matt attended school.

In lieu of flowers the family requests donations be made to Matt¹s

non-profit foundation, helping young adult cancer survivors:

Matt Snodgrass Foundation http://www.mattsnodgrass.org