Original subtitles

All good.

Kevin, can you say your name and sport for me?

Yeah. Kevin Pearce, and I'm a snowboarder.

What are you thinking about Vancouver?

Are you getting excited yet about being an Olympian?

You know, it's cool to have people saying that you're an Olympic hopeful.

I think it says a lot and super excited to be going for it this winter.

Now the new 22-foot wall at the compound, how's that going?

Will it affect your performance?

The new 22-foot half-pipes have kind of changed the way that we get to snowboard...

and the way that there's so much more airtime...

and there's so much more, you know, just overall time because the walls are bigger,

that you really have more time to think about what you're doing...

and being able to do bigger and cooler tricks.

And it's definitely changed snowboarding.

It's gonna be the first time that we see it in the Olympics with the 22-foot walls.

And I think people are gonna be blown away at what they get to see.

- Bring it! - Oh, it's a battle today.

All right, come on. Let's get going here.

Okay, now this looks good.

I'm getting thrown down. Oh, watch this.

Fabio's here.

Fabio.

Get in here.

Join us. Yeah.

Our parents believed in us really. They've given us a sense of...

Belonging.

Yes. Thank you, David.

First day of practice.

Hey, what up? Kevin Pearce. Just hanging. Frends Crew.

It's day one. Aspen. We got the pipe to ourselves.

Are you ready? Are you scared?

Yes! Ohh!

There's a curb in the bottom here.

How is it? Oh, a bit frustrating.

There's a curb.

It didn't feel as good as I was hoping, to be honest.

Curb your enthusiasm at the bottom?

Yeah.

It's a little bumpy on this wall, but...

We're out here training for the Winter Games 2010.

Road to Vancouver right now. This is the road.

This is the road we're taking.

I don't know if it's the correct road, but...

Fly out to Colorado, get word it's the best pipe ever cut.

It's a pretty big disappointment when you show up.

Are we going or are we staying?

I really don't think there's any point of staying here.

Let's just decide right now. Rock, paper, scissors, shoot.

Rock, paper, scissors, shoot.

We're going to Park City.

Going to Park City tomorrow.

Yee-haw!

The conclusion of the one-day Aspen trip... the pipe sucked.

And we're out. Peace. Whoo!

Oh, fucking happy!

Jack, right, bitch!

What kind of pie is that?

♪ Don't break me ♪

Rock, paper, scissors, shoot.

Now stay with us, Kevin.

You're good, Kev. All good.

♪ I know places we can go, babe ♪

You guys did awesome. All right?

♪ I know places we can go, babe ♪

♪ No, the high won't hurt you here, babe ♪

Yeah. It's sick.

♪ I know places we can go, babe ♪

He caught his toe edge and just... boom... like that.

Like so fucking hard.

And no hands to cover his...

No hands to cover his face, and then he hit.

And right away... right away I fucking knew that it was bad.

♪ ...bring you down, babe ♪

Should say a prayer.

Say a prayer is all you can do.

♪ No, the highs won't hurt you there, babe ♪

American snowboarder Kevin Pearce remains in critical but stable condition tonight...

after a training accident yesterday in Park City, Utah.

Pearce was considered a favorite to make the U.S. Olympic team.

♪ I know places we can go, babe ♪

♪ Coming home Come unfold, babe ♪

♪ And the high won't fade here, babe ♪

♪ No, the high won't hurt you here, babe ♪

♪ So come lay here, babe ♪

♪ And wait ♪

♪ Now won't you lay ♪

♪ And wait ♪

♪ Babe, on me ♪

♪ I know places we can go, babe ♪

♪ Coming home Come unfold, babe ♪

Come on, Kev. Come to Dada. Come on.

How old is he, Mummy?

Almost 11 months.

Eleven months.

Kevie, you're gonna fall. Don't do that.

That's my Kevie. He's on the go all the time.

♪ I'm going up the country ♪

This is Kevin Pearce.

He's one year and one week old.

And his biggest problem is he doesn't really know how to get down.

So when he gets up there, he's just a little bit upset.

♪ I'm going, I'm going where the water tastes like wine ♪

Hi, Daddy.

♪ I'm going where the water tastes like wine ♪

♪ We can jump in the water Stay drunk all the time ♪

Oh, yeah!

♪ I'm gonna leave this city Got to get away ♪

Did you get that? Mm-hmm.

♪ All this fussing and fighting Man, you know I sure can't stay ♪

♪ Now, baby, pack your leaving trunk ♪

♪ You know we've got to leave today ♪

♪ Just exactly where we're going I cannot say ♪

♪ But we might even leave the U.S.A. ♪

♪ 'Cause there's a brand-new game that I want to play ♪

♪

Oh, shit! Ohh!

♪

A little bit bigger than I thought.

I'd go faster, dude!

How old are you, Shaun? Nine.

Now, Shaun, every time I've seen you ride the half-pipe,

which I saw you at camp, and I've seen you...

I saw you boarding last year at the U.S. Open.

You absolutely amazed me.

Now I want to know specifically, how do you do those lovely 360s?

Well, you got to crank your arms back,

and then once you, um, hit the wall,

swing 'em forward.

And then once this goes, then your legs will follow.

I was born with a heart defect.

So I had a couple of surgeries when I was just one years old.

They said I wasn't going to be good at sports.

But, um, you put that obstacle in front of me and I want to overcome it.

I was competing in the amateur events,

and I was winning everything every single year.

And it got to the point where I was getting, like,

vibes from the families and the kids and the people I was competing against.

And it wasn't fun anymore.

I went pro when I was 13 and everybody was in their, like, mid-20s.

I was trying to, like, play Pokémons and stuff while everybody's out partying.

And I just didn't fit in.

I met Kevin when I was about nine, 10 years old...

at the U.S. Open in Vermont.

It was, like, this tradition.

And it was myself, Kevin.

And this was a basketball game that would take place.

And it just became, like, our thing.

Every single year, we'd all get together and just have a great time.

We'd go to the candy store... sugar plums. We'd do those things.

I was always focused on Kevin's brother.

'Cause I thought his brother was the one to beat at the time.

And Kevin just kind of came out of left field...

and did the younger-brother move and became the better rider.

Yeah.

That's so easy.

So what do you think about that?

I didn't even think I flipped.

I would say Shaun was much quicker to kind of get...

get the recognition and the success.

Whereas Kevin didn't have that at an early age.

So he was purely doing it for the love of the sport,

and because he saw his older brothers doing it.

At just eight years old, Kevin point-blank confronted...

board-making pioneer Jake Burton.

I asked him if they'd make me a kids' board...

because there was no such thing at the time.

And then, uh, a couple of weeks later, he came back with this.

When I was 18 and he was 15, he persuaded my parents...

and somehow got his teachers to allow him to move out to Mammoth with me.

And that really allowed him to snowboard full-time.

In eighth grade, I started taking the winter term off.

And for the last three years, I was able to homeschool,

where I did a lot of school in the summer...

and all winter I was able to just snowboard.

He would be up before everyone, out the door before everyone,

and sometimes riding whole days without us,

because it wouldn't be good conditions.

And he would continuously do that, day after day.

And he worked harder than anyone.

And I think that paid off for him.

Kevin Pearce, raised on maple syrup, sharp cheddar,

weaned on the hills of Vermont.

This guy right here is slaying it.

Seventeen years old in snowboarding.

It's all about what you're able to deliver.

And, uh, Pearce is man-size on his delivery.

Kevin Pearce came out of nowhere taking the win there.

Kevin Pearce, you're 17 years old, out here doing the slopestyle.

You went up against some big competition today.

The last couple of years it was, like, you'd go on these trips...

and, like, you gotta pull out your schoolbooks.

And it's so hard to be focusing on snowboarding and focusing on school.

And so it's a big weight off the shoulders to be done with high school...

and just, like, to have that part of your life over.

Here he comes.

Very accomplished slopestyle, half-pipe as well.

It's a quarter-pipe rider. Whoa!

- Oh, shazam. - Wow!

Great 540 right here.

Yes!

This is the tightest run we've seen yet.

This whole year's been pretty insane. It started off in New Zealand.

I won that.

And then from there it got pretty crazy.

Another of the new crew dazzling pipe fans...

all over the world this season...

is Kevin Pearce.

Pearce has it all... the McTwist,

a 900, a 1080 and astonishing amplitude.

There's definitely a lot of danger in it,

especially when you start getting these 22-foot half-pipe walls.

You get rewarded by the judge by the higher you go.

'Cause it's so difficult to do those spins high and...

The first time I came here, I didn't make it through pre-qualifiers.

And last year I made it to finals.

So I've been happy on how far I've come since I've started with the U.S. Open.

Let's give it up for Kevin Pearce!

This whole Frends Crew... it's just this group of kids...

that we got rolling together.

Traveling and having a great time.

Danny, Mason, Jack, Luke, Scotty.

Shaun's with us a bunch of the time, which never hurts.

Took the "I" out of it. Kind of makes sense. No "I" in "Frends."

Having that group of kids that really get along makes it a huge help.

Come on, Kevin! You're Snowman! Yeah!

Frends.

Back to the men's half-pipe finals...

here at the second event of three stops for the U.S. Snowboard Grand Prix.

What are you all doing up here?

The final standings... Kevin Pearce... Yes!

When I was 19, that was the Olympic year. It's 2006.

And, uh, everything I competed in I won. I had an undefeated season.

Whoo!

Shaun White gets that much closer to realizing his gold medal dreams.

And this is where Shaun wants to be.

Shaun lighting it up with a frontside 1080.

All he needs to do is land this last trick.

An immaculate run from Shaun White.

Shaun White... incredible execution.

And a visibly elated Shaun White.

Competing against Shaun is basically competing against a robot.

It's like playing chess on the computer and setting it to "expert."

You know, you'll never win.

And he proved that by winning every single contest of the Olympic year.

And then the following year at the Nippon Open in Japan, the miracle happened...

and Shaun White was not on the top of the podium.

It was Kevin.

Shaun White from the United States on course.

Oh, my God! Oh, my God!

Kevin Pearce from the United States on course.

And when I heard Kevin beat Shaun,

it was just like, "Wow! Did Shaun fall?"

It was like, "No, Shaun landed his run and Kevin landed a better run."

That was just, like, "Wow. That's insane."

Well, I thought that there was only two runs,

so I gave it my everything in the second run.

And-And, uh, that's all right.

Shaun got salty about it.

He was all wasted, like, after the contest.

And, like, me and Danny and Kevin were all, like, sharing this room.

Shaun kind of got a little pissed off with a fire extinguisher...

and a little beer out of the vending machines in Japan.

We get up there and, like, both the rooms are, like, cracked open,

and there's just, like, fire extinguisher shit, like, everywhere.

Like, dude, on my, like... I had, like, a relatively new Mac...

that was just, like, fucked.

So, Shaun, if you see this, you owe me a fucking computer.

So at that time,

Kevin was actually living at Shaun's house,

and Shaun called up his mom, and he told his mom to put Kevin's stuff on Shaun's front porch,

including $30,000 in yen.

And so after that, it was just this kind of competitive blood between the two.

It was like, "All right, you want to kick me out of your house?"

I'm gonna take this out on you in snowboarding.

Are you guys... You guys are friends?

Let's not... Let's not talk about that part. All right.

That side of things. We don't need him in the show.

It's all good.

No, we don't... I don't want to talk shit.

Moving on. Um...

No, we're not very good friends at this point.

Oh, really? Okay. That's cool. We can skip it.

I was just trying to get a feel for...

Just grab... Just... I'm just talking.

Yeah. It's cool.

I'm not trying to, like, pick... No, no, no. No, I know.

Kevin Pearce versus...

Shaun White.

So Kevin started winning all the big-air contests,

slopestyle contests,

half-pipe contests.

He beat Shaun. It was kind of like this miracle year for Kevin.

And we were just kind of like, "Where did that come from?" You know.

'Cause he was always, like... You know, we were all neck and neck with him.

And then all of a sudden, he kind of just flipped a switch...

and was like, "All right. Game on."

I remember going to Munich Air & Style.

And we were paired up the first round.

I landed, like, the best trick I could do.

And then Kev outdid me.

And it was just, like, Kev's gonna kill it.

Gravity!

He was making so much money. He was making, like, 400 G's or something like that...

in, like, three months, you know.

It's like... It's sick.

I couldn't... I'm...

Kevin Pearce, U.S.A.

Heavy drop. Then after Shaun, he did that front 12.

So I knew I had to step it up, and it worked out.

Kevin Pearce, Burton European Open winner.

Look at this... style, amplitude and technical perfection.

For a while there, it was just this, like, back and forth.

We would see each other at competitions.

And it was just great to know that he was pushing it as well.

You know, we both had... We shared the same talent.

It was such a rare thing and such an exciting time for us.

Bottom of the European Open, half-pipe finals.

Just finished up the third run.

I was able to put that one down. Shaun was in first and just, uh...

just snuck in there.

Whoo! I'm happy, man. Great day. Great day.

8,248.

Holy shit. All right.

Holy shit! Did you read the caption?

"This is not Shaun White, but Kevin Pearce might be just as good."

Ha!

What? That is so sick.

This kid, he has given Shaun a run for his money.

Here we go. Giant frontside air.

Here's a big McTwist. Stomps that down.

Cab 1080. Beautiful stomp.

The crowd is starting to ramp up in volume.

♪

The bar has been set.

Shaun White, right now about to take his final run.

Kevin Pearce trying to stay calm, cool and collected.

But he knows that Shaun is out for blood.

Here he goes. Here comes 10. What he had problems on.

There it is. Pearce's 10s were bigger.

Yeah, he did not go as big.

What is it going to be here, ladies and gentlemen?

It's gonna be a nail-biter.

There's Pearce's reaction. Here's the score.

A 91.66.

I don't agree. I don't agree with that at all, but...

I just think Kevin's was a little bit better.

You know what, though, we were so gunning for you, man.

So gunning for you. Thanks.

When's the next time you can just beat this guy?

Hey, I beat him last week. That's not good enough for you?

I know. I want you to beat him week. Come on, he's good.

The week after? I know... I'm working on it.

Going into the Olympics,

Kevin was the main rival for Shaun.

That's... That's, I think, what made Olympics so important for Kevin,

was that he was the guy to beat Shaun White.

Shaun took it to that next level...

and had an entire bowl from the mountains that they avalanched.

So all the snow came to the bottom.

They flew everyone out there in a helicopter, dug this pipe in the middle of...

I mean, it was the radest thing ever.

Like two million dollars' worth of snow moving and avalanches and heli costs.

And then no one was allowed to ride it but Shaun.

I knew that I was gonna be expected to do so much media and so much stuff,

that I'm, like, "Hey, we should build a half-pipe..."

Where I can actually go ride without dealing with people.

And the very last minute, we're, like,

"Hey, let's get some sort of foam pit or something like that."

Let's just try something new.

'Cause a lot of the guys in the motorcycle world are doing that.

As soon as we heard about it, we're just like, "Oh, great."

Like as if he wasn't good enough.

Shaun takes it very seriously.

He had his girlfriend sign a nondisclosure agreement...

to not let anybody know about the tricks he was learning.

Then Kevin was, like, "Well, now we need to go build a private half-pipe..."

And learn all this tricks if we want to even, you know, be on the same level with him.

And then Kevin signed with Nike.

They promised, like, "Okay, we'll make a pipe happen for you."

And Kevin invited all of us.

And that was the really big difference between him and Shaun.

Kevin is, like, a friend,

and Shaun's this machine athlete who has one goal only, and that is to win.

We're out here in our little secret location...

building a half-pipe for Kevin Pearce.

Kevin was the first person to bring the air bag to snowboarding.

What I was imagining is we just cut it...

cut that right there... Mm-hmm.

And just set the bag there so these are 22.

He had this vision of building a half-pipe and then cutting off the end of it...

and putting an air bag at the bottom.

The way progression is and evolution,

the sport has evolved to the point where it's getting so ridiculously dangerous...

that it's necessary to have a foam pit and an air bag...

to be able to learn these tricks without getting seriously injured.

Every mountain has one now, but that was a crazy concept to us at the time.

It was literally a Chuck fest.

And, you know, like anything you could think of in your head, you would try on this air bag.

It just opened up a whole new spectrum of tricks.

There's a trick me and Kev were trying to really dial down was that cab double cork.

Moving forward in this year, it's gonna be...

it's gonna be crazy seeing, you know, how much half-pipe riding changes.

And it feels like if you don't have one of those double corks,

that you're not really gonna have a chance.

Kev tried the cab double corks into that air bag...

probably a hundred times before he felt like he had the motion to try them in the half-pipe.

And then he tried it in the half-pipe...

and, like, fell super hard but went back up.

That whole week was just dedicated to learn new tricks.

You know, the goal was to learn some double corks.

And, you know, we got a couple down.

And then, you know, this was one of the last days that this happened.

As you can see here, it was, uh...

it was pretty bad, but I was lucky.

You all right?

It ended up being a pretty severe break.

You know, I had all these plans trying to get ready for the Olympics,

and it's kind of slowed it down, but we still got some time,

so it shouldn't be a problem moving forward.

So then, from that summer, you know, that was just all, like, recovery for Kev.

So Kev was, like, biking a bunch.

He was down to, like... like three percent body fat.

Ah, it's not gonna happen.

Like, he looked, like, a crackhead, you know.

He was just, like... Ahh... Just, like, so strong.

The whole pressure of the Olympics and the hype that was on Kevin, like,

as the top pick for the Olympic team, was just getting to Kevin's head.

So Kevin, instead of getting a snowboard coach, he got a mental coach,

because he figured he knew snowboarding more than any other snowboard coach did.

So he'd be fine on his own without one.

His mental coach would get into his head...

and just make Kevin feel like he is Hercules and can do anything.

We all wanted to do well, but not like Kev did.

Like, he really wanted it, and he really was working for it,

with everything he ate, he was just, like...

I would eat a pint of ice cream at the end of the night or something.

- Kev might look at me, like... - nope.

You fucker...

I'm really packing it on. Oh, look at the fat kid.

I'm all stressed out. I-I eat when I'm stressed out, okay?

How do you deal with pressure?

I guess I try to block it out as much as I can and...

focus on the things that matter...

and...

try and not focus on...

worrying to much about beating everyone else or...

falling.

Don't like to think about falling.

I think Aspen's going to be a huge opportunity for us...

if we can make that pipe happen and just have our crew riding there.

I've been trying those double corks.

They've just been giving me the hardest time.

I don't feel that confident yet, so, uh, that's kind of been a battle for me.

There's a curb in the bottom here.

We're going to Park City.

From Colorado, we ended up driving to Park City.

It was perfect. The pipe was great.

The weather was great. It was my brother's birthday. Everyone was feeling great.

Ohh!

Jack's not going to want this.

So it's New Year's Eve.

It's a sunny day. Everything's perfect.

Did our stretching. Kev rode his bike.

I'm on the bike. And, uh, it feels good, you know?

Everyone woke up a little hungover, except me. I was training.

And, uh, yeah, the pipe was good.

Way better than Aspen. Sorry, Aspen. But it sucked over there.

And, uh, the day's only gonna continue to get better.

I was sitting at the top of the half-pipe with Kevin.

It was the first doubles that we were gonna try in a long time.

I remember both of us being super nervous.

And, uh, we were just nervous.

You know, it's always scary to do the first double cork, you know.

So me and Kevin do, like, a little rock, paper, scissor, shoot.

And Kevin lost, so he dropped in.

Kevin tried the trick.

Came very close.

We look up and I see Kevin do his cab double cork...

and just not catch anything but his face.

And I happened to look up,

and I'm just like,

"Oh, my God. That was so bad."

It was a perfect storm of a fall. It's, like, it couldn't have been any worse.

I started hollering for a ski patrol.

I said, "Hey, like, we're gonna need a helicopter up here."

I'm up there at the top of the half-pipe,

and I'm like, "All right, Kevin, get up."

He was just out.

You know, he was... Blood coming out of his mouth, his nose.

Kevin is just like shaking, like when you pull a fish out of water.

So we all just started talking to him.

"Stay with us, Kevin. We're here. We're here. It's gonna be all right."

We had to, like, put a tube down his throat so he could breathe...

'cause he wasn't breathing on his own.

Do you know... What are they saying?

Well, we went up there. His eye was totally swollen.

Uh, they said they blew... he blew his pupil out,

which is the sign of a massive head trauma.

Um...

it's... it's just not looking good, man.

He's... He's been out for 30 minutes, knocked out.

I was in our house in Vermont, and the phone rang.

And it was my friend Ty. And he was at the pipe, and he said,

"Kev had a bad fall."

And he was like, "You need to be here."

The worst was the doctor called while I was still in Norwich and said,

"We need to put an extraventricular drain in your son's head,

and we need your permission to do that."

And I had no idea what he was talking about.

Okay. All right.

Okay. Thank you so much. Bye.

So they say that he...

They're gonna do the hole, and then they put, like,

a thing that, like, sucks out all the blood and the fluids or whatever.

Yeah.

And then they're gonna take him out of...

They're gonna... The sedation will be off,

and they're gonna try to wake him up.

They don't know if he will wake up or if he won't wake up.

And then they won't really know how much damage is done to the brain...

for another three to five days.

So we won't be able to see him till his family gets there.

We flew through the night. We got into Salt Lake...

I remember driving through the street to the hospital, and it was New Year's Eve.

Walking into his room...

you could just tell from... I mean, he didn't look like... he didn't look like Kevin.

He had 30 tubes in him, and he looked like he was dead.

Just seeing him there lying there was...

was by far the worst thing that's ever happened... that I've ever seen or...

It was just...

There was no... It was just numbing. It was just...

That... You know, that boy who could do anything.

And the nurse said, "It's really okay to touch him."

And it was really lucky that she said that...

'cause I wouldn't have known if that was okay or not to touch him.

I remember the doctor saying, "Do you want to come see the scans?"

So we sat down in the middle of the night looking at these computer images...

that really didn't mean anything.

We had no idea what was gonna happen.

Whether he was gonna live or die. Or if he did live, what his life would be like.

I would constantly watch the drip which monitored the pressure in his brain.

And, you know, the doctors had said if the fluid is clearer it's better.

And I would just for weeks just watch that fluid.

I think it was an e-mail from somebody saying,

"You need to be prepared...

for the Kevin who comes back not to be the same Kevin."

Get well, Kevin. Snowboard as soon as you can. You're great.

And I'm a good fan of you. A big fan.

We're holding your sign during this competition. Let's go.

Holding it proud.

This is Shaun, Kevin. We miss you here, man.

We're all pulling for you.

Hard to ride the pipe without you.

Just want to tell you I love you, buddy.

- This one's for Kev. - Miss you out here.

- We love you, Kev. - - Kevin, stay strong.

So I hope you get well soon.

We know you can pull through. We're rooting for you.

- We love you tons. - - I love you, buddy.

After how many days?

Making moves. Making progress.

As he started to make any recovery...

I mean, I'll never forget when I was sitting with him and I was holding his hand...

and he moved his finger in the palm of my hand.

And we were like, "Yes!" Like, "He just... He moved his hand."

You know, and then he'd open his eyes.

But you could tell, like, he wasn't...

He'd open his eyes, but it was as if he wasn't even looking at you.

How you doing?

You know, and then he would pinch with his right hand, but his left hand wouldn't work.

So then we were, like, you know, is he paralyzed?

And then he'd get a blood clot in his arm.

You know? So it was just constantly new hurdles to get over.

There was very little change.

And then after that, it felt like there was, like, this amazing ladder of progression.

He still wasn't talking, but I would play a few of his favorite playlists.

And then I played "The Believer" by Neil Young...

and he started mouthing the lyrics.

We were like, "Yes!" Like he's somewhat aware of what's happening.

Like he's... he's able to sing this song which we didn't even know he was listening to.

Do you really take precautions?

You learn how to crash. You wear helmets. You wear padding.

You wear... You know, you do what you got to do,

but you kind of learn along the way how to handle it.

Okay, but sometimes accidents happen.

Right. Absolutely. And we're all thinking about Kevin Pearce.

We actually heard that there was a little bit of movement there.

Uh, that he was able to do some movement today. That was the latest word.

Show that you can stand. Push up. Extend, extend, extend.

Good. Tighten up the bum cheeks.

Hold your head up.

Chest up. Chest up. This part, Kev. Up. Yep.

Up. Look up.

Now don't overextend. Just stand up nice and tall, okay?

We were there at the hospital, and...

another family, very like our family, had a son who had a skiing accident.

So they were constantly asking us questions about where Kevin was...

and what he was going through and was he improving here and there?

And we were fortunate to always say, "Yeah, like, every day has been an improvement."

Unfortunately, um, he didn't make it. His name was Mark.

It's... I... It's just a total luck of the draw, I think.

There's no reason. I mean, he was in the same hospital with the same team...

and had a wonderful family.

He had all the same things that Kevin had.

Oh. You know, we were sharing the same waiting room with them.

We were sharing food with them, you know. And then...

Kev, another great day, huh?

Did you have a great day today?

A good day.

A good day. Yeah.

It's been a great day.

A great day.

Kevin Pearce is a miracle man.

Look at this, Kev. "Pearce be with you."

Pearce be with you.

You got some fans, don't you?

These boys.

These boys? These boys.

You got some fans.

Do you have a nickname?

Do you know your nickname, Kev?

I don't.

You don't?

K.P. K.P.

Yeah, I would be completely lying...

to say that Kevin's injury hasn't affected me.

I mean, I think about it quite a bit.

I mean, I was standing there before the Olympics trying to learn these tricks,

and Kevin's in the back of my mind.

I couldn't... I couldn't shake it.

And everywhere you would look there was these stickers, like, you know, "I ride for Kevin."

You know, I just...

You know, I couldn't really escape this... this feeling of, like,

you know, "Well, what if?"

What if I'm gonna crash on this next hit?

Last night, there was a heart-stopping moment...

when America's snowboarding superstar Shaun White endured a scary crash.

Snowboarding superstar Shaun White, on a practice run at the Winter X Games,

launching a double McTwist 1260 and coming up frighteningly short.

It's been a wild night for me.

I mean, hitting my head didn't help anything. And I've been seeing stars.

How are you feeling?

You want to cry? How come?

You do.

How are you?

After David was born,

the midwife said, "We need to tell you that your baby has Down syndrome."

And I just didn't know if I could do it.

Say "Hi, Rosie. This is David."

I remember a doctor coming in and said,

"You know, kids with Down syndrome do really well in the Special Olympics."

And I remember thinking that is so great.

And that was, like, so important to me to hear something positive.

Good morning. What morning is it?

So David is going to be competing in the...

What events today in the Special Olympics?

Downhill... Downhill on the chairlift. Yep.

Whoa! This is Pia Pearce, the mother of the Olympian.

Good morning. It is my pleasure to be with David Pearce this morning...

as we prepare for the Special Olympics of the year 2000.

This is the great skier in the history of the Quechee Club.

My roly-poly... Poly.

Very strenuous.

Here we go.

David's coming down. He's doing great. Flying down the mountain.

All right, Dave!

That was a great run... 46 seconds, Dave.

Yeah.

Very fast.

I'd say you have a medal.

David Pearce... a post-race special.

From Upper Valley, David Pearce.

All right, David!

All right!

The incredible thing about David...

is you have to put out an enormous amount of energy.

We always said it was like he was equal to five children.

But you always got back exactly what you put out.

I wouldn't have David any other way than the way he is.

I mean, I wouldn't swap him for any child in the world.

He is absolutely perfect.

More medals! Yay!

Having David has been incredibly valuable and important.

And the same thing when Kevin was first hurt.

It was really... I needed to hear all the things that were gonna be good,

not for people to feel sorry for us.

Hey, everyone. Thanks for all your support. I'm feeling better.

I'm walking around. Uh, I appreciate everything that you guys have done.

And, uh, keep it up.

♪ Wise men say ♪

♪ Only fools rush in ♪

♪ Only fools rush in ♪

♪ But I ♪

♪ I can't help ♪

♪ I can't help falling ♪

And the square and the "X."

♪ Falling in love with you ♪

♪

Yeah!

Yeah! You ain't got nothing!

I dropped everything I was doing. I quit my job.

And I was determined to be by his side...

for as long as it took for him to get better.

It felt really good, because a lot of the times in the hospital...

I'd see other patients without that support.

I knew what worked for him, and not necessarily all the therapists did.

So it was easy for me to say "Let's just turn this, like, to a competitive game,

and he'll want to do it."

Is that the best fingering? I think you go that way it's bigger, right?

Oh, get in there.

Okay, let's talk about Shaun White and his tricks.

We've all... We've seen the back-to-back double corks so far.

Representing the United States of America, this is Shaun White!

But the opener of his run, well, that's not gonna be too shabby, either.

- Oh! - Huge straight air for Shaun.

Setting the momentum for the rest of his run.

Massive double cork.

Shaun's moves right now are so much higher than the other riders.

This is unbelievable.

Shaun White just set a new bar here in the half-pipe finals.

What are we doing, love?

We're watching the Olympics, angel.

What's Kevin doing?

He's snoozing.

It's very exciting.

And Shaun White, of course, back-to-back gold medalist.

Repeating his feat from Torino.

Reaching new heights in his sport...

and enjoying every minute of the ride... Shaun White.

Life in the hospital. Kevin's really sick.

He's having a really hard time.

And Ellery's being such a martyr helping him out.

Let's get up. I want you to get up.

There was a skier... C.R. Johnson... who'd contacted me.

He had had a traumatic brain injury.

And all he wanted to do was talk to Kevin.

But Kevin was still in his coma.

And so C.R. would just send me, like, page-long e-mails,

just repeating himself and trying to be, like,

"I want to talk to Kevin. Nobody understands this unless you go through it."

And then while Kevin was still in the hospital,

C.R. got another traumatic brain injury and died.

Professional freeskier C.R. Johnson was killed yesterday...

in a horrific fall in California.

He was 26. Johnson had competed in the Winter X Games.

He had a remarkable return to skiing after suffering a brain injury...

in another skiing mishap five years ago that left him in a coma.

I couldn't believe it.

This is real. It's real again.

But that could happen to Kevin in an instant.

Right after the accident, all Kevin would talk about was,

"I want to be a pro snowboarder. I want to go do a cab double cork."

The trick he fell on. And that really bummed me out, because I was, like,

you don't know what you've put us through.

♪ I see problems down the line ♪

I mean, I'm a professional snowboarder,

and I didn't want Kevin to snowboard again.

It would just make me cry, because I was like, "I don't want you to do this."

♪ Was a dirt upon your hands ♪

On February 22, I asked Kevin to draw a person...

with all the parts doing anything.

I don't know if you can see this person down there.

It's not his best artwork piece let's just say.

On the 13th of April, draw a person,

and this guy's got a body now.

Hands that go where hands go, legs that go where legs go.

There's still some things we're working on.

Definitely not more aware of your left side.

Your drew the right side of this guy's face, and some things are a little off.

But he's getting better. He's getting there.

Kevin, that was excellent.

I think pretty much just your toast just shows the progress you've made.

♪ Don't let the darkness eat you up ♪

All right. That's it, baby. Three months in Craig and I'm out. Later.

♪ Don't let the darkness eat you up ♪

We're here.

We made it. Yeeeeh!

Kevin went back to live in Vermont.

At 18, it was a lot for me. So we broke up.

He was so good about it. He fully understood.

He's one of the greatest guys I know.

He's inspirational, hard worker.

There's nothing bad to say about him.

♪ Don't let the darkness eat you up ♪

I wouldn't change what went on between us.

I wouldn't really wish it upon anyone.

- Hey, guys. - Hi.

And I'm here to talk to you guys about the importance of wearing helmets.

I was training for the Olympics and hit my head really hard.

I'm very thankful that I was wearing one of those, and that saved my life.

And after it first happened, I really couldn't see anything out of this eye.

So it was kind of scary. I thought I might be blind out of that eye for a little bit,

but now it's been coming back.

I still have to wear glasses that are kind of funny looking.

I think that is a great question.

I think that in a stage where you're recovering...

your brain isn't at a place where it can tell you what the right decision is,

it's good to take advice from family.

How long am I gonna take this advice for?

Um...

I don't know.

How much am I gonna have to take this advice...

or until you guys will just let me do my thing and trust me?

I feel like there's no trust in this family of what you guys...

Whoa. of what you guys think I can do.

And you look at it as trust,

and we look at it as risk.

And they're very, very different, Kevin.

If you do injure yourself, is it fair on your mother...

and the family...

to be put in a position of taking care of you for the rest of your life?

Concentrate.

♪

Easy squeasy.

Yee-hoo-hoo!

I was so scared.

I was so scared.

♪ Come on, come on ♪

♪ Come on, come on ♪ ♪ Come on ♪

♪ Come on ♪ ♪ Come on ♪

♪ Come on get out ♪

- ♪ Come on ♪ - ♪ Come on ♪

♪ Come on ♪ ♪ Come on ♪

Ohh!

♪

Yo, check me out. I'm seven months out of my injury...

and I'm ripping around on this Segway,

and it is mad fun.

Slow down, dude.

♪ Come on ♪ Whoo!

♪ Come on ♪

This is the wake surfing.

So this was my first time ever doing it, and...

Boom! I can't let you do that. I will not let you do that.

I mean, I can't advise you to do that. You can't take the risk.

So you've been hurt for one year.

Your brain is healing, but your brain can't get injured again.

And the major inefficiencies from your injury...

come from this white matter.

These wires can only handle so much force.

The harder you whip your head into the water,

that's a concussion.

You actually could die.

You could have brain bleeding that's fatal for you.

But I kind of don't understand what you're saying because I felt totally fine.

And a lot of things that I'm gonna continue to do with my life are gonna be risky.

I understand that part of this reevaluation may be disappointing.

You came here because you wanted to get permission to get your life back.

And, you know, we're not there yet.

Your primary concern was your memory.

And what I saw in our appointments...

was that even during those hour times...

you forgot what you said.

So, one of the approaches, as a trial, is gonna be...

putting you on a memory-enhancing medicine.

My memory obviously doesn't suck...

It could be your memory pill. It obviously doesn't suck that bad.

If I want to remember it, I'll remember it. That's true.

If I don't give a shit about it, I won't remember it.

That's exactly right. So I would say the other thing about this medicine...

is it makes you give a shit.

Last time we were together you were like, "Yeah,

at the one year mark it's gonna be fine for you to have a beer and whatever.

Just obviously don't get drunk."

Then I kind of also felt like...

Well, I obviously don't remember correctly from what you guys are saying.

It was a total one-year rehab,

and now it's clearly a two-year rehabilitation.

Is that my brain not working... You guys telling me that it was a one-year deal to have a beer?

Or is that... Is that something I thought, or is that something you told me?

I think it was something you thought.

Ladies and gentlemen, make some noise for our brother, Mr. Kevin Pearce.

Because of all you, because of all what you've done,

so you should be very proud of yourself, and thank you for all the love and support.

♪

I'm Jamie Little, joined now by the man, Kevin Pearce.

Hey, you're becoming like a veteran announcer now.

Thanks for having me. Yeah. It's been awesome, you know.

I can't snowboard, so I need to stay occupied in some way.

Well, we've watched Shaun White grow up before our very eyes here at Winter X Games.

Shaun White is to snowboarding what Tiger Woods is to golf.

Oh! Right there, it's a Double Mickey!

Putting it down into the backside.

Oh, my goodness gracious. What about that run?

Every single trick is a double cork or a 1080 or a 1260...

or just something beyond belief.

I mean, I was down and out for a year,

and none of that stuff was happening two years ago.

And to come back and see how far the sport has been progressed...

in one year is just unbelievable.

Snowboarding is my true love. And it's really hard to understand...

why I would ever want to get back on a board after what I've been through...

unless if you really understood the feeling I had for snowboarding.

It's just so exciting that I'm gonna get back to it.

It was a couple years ago that you got a silver medal.

I cannot wait to see you back at it again. I can't wait. Don't tempt me.

I'll get back at it, take him down.

Tired of this shit yet? Oh, I'm so tired of this shit.

Let me go party. I haven't gotten to do any fun shit this weekend.

All I've had to do is... interviews the whole goddamn weekend.

Welcome back to ESPN 3D. I'm Jamie Little.

Sarah Burke... She's gonna come back for the big air final.

It's pretty cool how all these action sports have progressed off each other.

All the tricks came from surfing and then skating.

We've kind of all inspired each other.

Skiers now want to be doing what all the snowboarders are doing in the half-pipe.

And it's cool to see that after we've followed in the skiers' footsteps for so long.

Kevin Pearce, you've been awesome. Congratulations, buddy.

There we go. Another great night. Thanks for your insight.

Here we are. We're at my new house...

down here in Carlsbad, California... Southern California.

And I just got this house right before my injury,

and then I came back to life and don't remember getting it,

and so it was very exciting when I came out here for the first time.

And then I got my roommate Haley,

and she's really helping me out with just everything... just my whole life.

I'm not really... It's hard to tell,

but I'm not really ready or able to live on my own yet.

Shoot. My meds don't have enough in 'em.

Hey, Haley. Yeah?

Could you come in here real quick?

I need you to help me out. I need more meds.

Okay.

CVS Pharmacy. How can I help you?

Hey, man. I was just calling to see if my prescriptions were eligible for refill.

Do you know what medication?

Yeah, I got Vimpat, Lexapro and Lamotrigine.

Do you think you can go pick 'em up? Yeah. Of course.

The Lamotrigine is the main seizure medication.

I'm pretty sure the Lexapro is an antidepressant.

I'm kind of bummed that I'm on the antidepressant...

because I feel like I'm not depressed, but...

I'm not the doctor.

The continued rehab, you know, a bunch of deficits that I'm dealing with,

whether it's my memory, my attention, the confusion I have so often,

the fatigue, the naps I take every day,

the "impulsitivity,"

the organization, the sensory overload...

They're just kind of endless stuff that I'm dealing with.

We have something going on here.

I have these full-on seizures that are happening in my arm.

The doctors have been very worried about it turning into a grand mal seizure,

because then the risk is falling and hitting your head.

Okay. After our visit, did you notice anything else about your vision?

Or not really?

No, not really.

To be completely honest with you, I don't remember that.

Oh, okay.

And that's not good.

What did you tell me?

I want you to tell me if the images...

are getting farther apart or closer together, okay?

Look at the letter "D." Do you see a single?

No, it's two. Two of it.

So what we're gonna do is surgery on both eyes.

He has a lot of things going on. There's... When he looks up, his eyes are shaking.

When he looks down, his eyes are shaking.

That's called nystagmus, and the surgery can't fix that problem.

And because of the brain injury,

his brain might have a little more trouble adjusting to the new position of his eyes,

and it might be more difficult for his brain to fuse the two images.

I think probably this is gonna need to be more than one surgery.

Um, because of the way that the eye was injured,

it's not realistic to expect single vision in every direction of gaze.

Hmm.

It's all right. You're in the recovery room.

Relax. Kev. Kev.

Kevin? Lay back, Kevin.

Thank you. Surgery's over. It's done.

This young man was similar to you. He's a Boulder college student.

Hi, Grant. This is Kevin Pearce.

How you doing, dude? You hanging in there?

Grant's had an injury. His family's very involved.

He loves snowboarding. Oh, yeah?

He's a C.U. student, right?

You used to snowboard?

Yeah, brother. Me too.

Snowboarding's good stuff, isn't it?

Yeah. Yeah.

You're looking good. You got a nice little bear there, dude.

That's chill, huh?

It's hard for him right now. He's just had some surgery,

but he's gonna get a lot better.

Nice, man. You come see him in a year.

You stay positive, all right?

Keep working hard, and you'll get better.

No.

Right. Wow.

It's been two years. So let's go over this.

The M.R.I... Right here... Do you see this black dot right here?

Oh, yeah. This is an area...

that has left a scar in that part of the brain.

This affects your vision. It affects the left side of your body...

and your coordination and your balance,

but also that's why you feel so forgetful.

That's why you notice your memory is impaired.

How much will those go away?

I don't believe the scars are ever going to go away.

You still want to snowboard.

Yeah, I still want to snowboard. I want that feeling back.

Medically and neurologically, you cannot afford...

to hit your head.

It's interesting because I feel like I know so well...

what I should be doing and what I shouldn't be doing.

You do. And to know it and think it is one thing.

To be in the moment and disconnect thought and action...

that's a vulnerable area for your type of brain injury.

And you take risks. You live on the edge.

And that's where the high risks come.

If somebody gets a concussion,

they're six times more likely to get another concussion.

And the reason is just because a person has some impairment in their abilities,

and their lifestyle's not made any adjustments for that, and accidents happen.

Don't get me wrong. I really appreciate everything that people do for me...

and all the support I have and all the help I've gotten from doctors,

but it comes to the point where I'm just ready to release from it all.

Just get me out of here. Enough's enough.

And I feel like I'm coming to that point. And I feel like...

I'm looking at you.

What your family's been through.

This is what you think about. You use your intelligence and your love...

to make good decisions.

It doesn't come without injury.

I'm 24 years old right now, and I've broken, you know, 23 bones.

♪ ♪ You've fallen once You'll fall again ♪

A couple years ago I broke my back and shattered my pelvis.

♪

And I fell from like 45 feet. I completely blacked out halfway down.

I woke up in the ambulance, and they were like, "Jason, can you hear me? Jason!"

And I was just like, "My name's Mason!"

I fell 30 feet into a sitting position.

And then my hips kind of shifted like this.

The worst crash I've ever had would probably be when I ruptured my spleen.

I fell off the rail and landed pretty much directly on my chest.

Travis doesn't clear it. Watch. Takes it to the gut,

but somehow drills his nose in to slow him down.

I've hit my head plenty of times, and it trips me out.

I mean, for me, I've had maybe nine concussions.

I've had plenty of crashes where I've cracked helmets open.

I would have been dead if it wasn't for my helmet.

So there's a wire inside my head,

'cause I'm on six head injuries.

Went from being normal... I don't know... to really depressed,

severely anxious, bipolar and alcoholism, chemical dependency.

My memory is really bad, and the emotion regulation and judgment.

♪ Emptied out of every thought ♪

So you see the guy fall, and he's laying there in agonizing pain, and he wants help.

The contest coordinators... they don't care.

We don't have any kind of athlete insurance.

Pretty much every other sport besides action sports get the treatment they need.

Say I would have, like, crippled myself tomorrow skating.

I would be all out of my pocket.

That's what happened to Stephen Murray.

I didn't even know what a quadriplegic was until I became one.

They want to see people go out there and crash...

because the crowds get excited when people crash.

That's what the crowd loves.

Dirt biking... I look at 'em, and I think, "That's crazy,"

but I'm sure they look at us in the same way.

♪ The look on your face ♪

♪ The burden's on your back ♪

♪ The sun is in your eyes ♪

♪ Stretched out ♪

♪ Fallen wide ♪

♪ The light has scorched the same ♪

There is gonna be times when that...

one percent or that five percent chance happens,

and you catch your edge off the takeoff.

♪ I'm never coming back ♪

I mean, what I've been telling myself ever since Kev got hurt...

was that shit happens.

There's just no apparent reason sometimes for it.

Well, we're here because we really want to talk seriously together as a family...

about the fact that Kevin feels like he's really ready to start snowboarding again.

I'll never forget when we got to the hospital.

It was the one time I kind of broke down...

and felt sort of a deep sense of responsibility for what had happened.

Because the pressure, once you get into it at that level,

it's very hard to get out of it.

I mean, you get caught up in it.

And then there's the expectation, and then there's all the sponsors.

And everybody's expecting and wanting you to do better and better and more and more.

And so you push the limits,

and the only way to be successful in that sport is to push the limit.

Everybody's having bad falls,

and it's just luck whether you have what happened to Kevin or you don't.

So I think we should have a conversation with Kevin here.

Yeah. I think we'll all have our own feelings about it.

I do think if Kevin hears our feelings...

more than our advice...

But I do think he cares about how we feel,

'cause he knows how much we've been through with him.

And how much we love him. Exactly.

So I think if we can focus on our feelings, that probably would be the best thing.

Look at who is here.

Look at the new glasses.

How they feeling? They're good. They're really good.

Are they?

Wow. It is a family dinner.

Thanksgiving. Yeah. Our first Thanksgiving dinner of the year.

Thank you, guys. Welcome back, K.P.

Wow. Welcome back, Kev.

Back from the dead.

I think the conversation needs to start with...

what your plans are about riding on snow.

I feel 100% confident.

Not you?

Calling a spade a spade, isn't it, David?

I don't want to die either, Dave.

I don't want you...

I...

That's not what I want. I think those are all things...

that I could have happen if I fall,

if I hit my head really bad again.

It is pretty scary.

You don't want me to? No.

But that's the bottom line, and that's what it comes down to...

is I'm going to snowboard again.

But I have to do it so I don't get paralyzed...

and so I don't die and I don't get hurt.

I think you see what has happened to some other people...

who have had more than one T.B.I.,

and I think... I was so surprised at Craig...

when they told me they do see people with a second one and a third one.

I was like... I think I just never... I thought if somebody had one,

why... how could they ever put themselves in a situation where they might have another one?

It's really hard for you guys to know,

and, I mean, it's unexplainable...

to say the amount that snowboarding does for me and the amount I love it,

and just the feeling it gives me to get to be on a snowboard,

and I just feel like no one else in this room has that feeling about anything.

Maybe Dad does about blowing glass, but...

it's so different than blowing glass, 'cause it's just...

It... You know what it feels like to me, Kev? It feels like an addiction.

I mean, if I was smoking every day,

you wouldn't feel good about me.

And if I said, "Well, I'll cut it back to one cigarette a day,"

and then it would be two cigarettes a day,

and it goes... you know, you...

And when can you realize that you're clumsier?

And for me it's hard, because I don't see your awareness.

See, and then that gets right back to my point...

that you guys just have no faith.

Where this is coming from is that the more you had to deal with,

the worse your tremors got.

And when we jumped in, or Mummy jumped in...

and made you rest more and take it easy and get more help,

the tremors started to get less.

So it was... it was... We let you go as far as we felt was really safe,

'cause the tremors are not good.

You know, after I got... After I broke my back,

I can't do a lot of the tricks I... that made it as fun for me.

So, snowboarding isn't as fun as it was.

There's also the scenario I just sent these guys a video of...

it's a guy that had one... he's a dirt biker...

He was like, "No way I'm gonna stop."

He had a second. Second time, "Not a chance I'm gonna stop."

Third time, got another one.

He's forced to retire. He said, "I guess I have to say I'm gonna retire."

But he can't... He's paralyzed. He can't even say his name.

Yeah. He can hardly talk.

How many professional football players...

that have had a traumatic brain injury go back and win the Super Bowl?

How many is it? None. Never happened.

My sense about you is you just want to do what you want to do,

and you have a lot of confidence in yourself,

but I think we're all talking about this 'cause we love you so much.

♪

♪ Set your ♪

♪ Dreams ♪

♪ Where nobody hides ♪

All of my brothers and my dad and myself...

are very dyslexic.

School and just day-to-day life was very hard for us...

because of how severe our learning disabilities are.

For me, snowboarding... I really found it as a way out.

I need to use yours. This thing doesn't... Try... You try and do it.

♪ No time ♪

Nope. Didn't make it.

When you blew it up, you blew it so thin in the bottom.

That's why I kept saying you can't blow it up too much.

'Cause when you blow through, it blows all the glass out of the bottom.

There's no thickness left. It's like paper in the bottom.

In school I was like a failure,

and at home I was a success.

School was really hard, but my parents just believed in us,

and my father never opened a report card.

My philosophy was exactly the same as my father's.

He really believed in the child's ability to know its boundaries.

But after the accident, I felt very responsible.

There's all the money involved and all the sponsorships.

It wasn't just Kevin.

There should be limits, I think, just like there is in car racing.

And finally they had to limit the size of the engines in the racing cars...

because people were killing themselves.

And it's the same in the half-pipe.

If you make the walls higher, which makes it more dramatic for the spectators...

and the television and the media, the athlete will go.

I mean, he'll push it to the limits.

It's in the athlete's makeup.

I felt that, at some level,

we were all to blame.

♪

Okay, so we need to finalize our plans...

for the day that Kevin wants to get back on snow...

for the very first time in two years.

Uh, me and Adam talked about this earlier on,

and we said the 12th or 13th was gonna work best.

You don't want that, Dave?

Not yet?

My amazing sponsors. They've stuck with me through this whole journey I've been on,

and I gotta make sure they all get the love,

whether it's Burton, Nike,

Volcom, AMP Energy,

Oakley, Frends.

Bam, baby.

Yo. Yo.

Hey, do you know what stickers I need to have on my helmet?

Yeah, Nike gets a three-inch-wide sticker...

on the top half of a snowboard and on helmet.

All right.

Nike, according to this contract I'm looking at...

is supposed to get a sticker.

Is that three-inch? Yep.

All right. Cool. I got one. I'm putting it on.

For both snowboard and helmet.

Yeah, and Burton gets one too.

So it looks like Volcom and Oakley don't.

AMP, Burton and Nike do.

Okay.

What a day.

Why aren't you wearing this? Can you put this on already? You're making me nervous.

♪ ♪ Don't you ♪

with your friends. We know that.

Means a lot. Know you... Just the best.

♪

Here's Kevin!

This is our baby boy!

Wow.

I have thought for a long, long time...

that I'm in a dream, and that one day I might wake up,

and this all might be over, and it might just all be a bad, bad nightmare.

♪

It feels like it'd be a miracle if my brain did heal back 100%,

but there's been so many miracles.

It's, like, why would you not believe in that one?

I want to thank you guys for getting me back here...

and for making this possible.

Huddle up. Huddle up.

This is what we've been working on.

This is better than anything I could have ever imagined.

Kevin Pearce is a miracle man.

Thumbs up.

Let's do this, boys!

Whoo! Whoo!

Ah!

Looking happy over there, Kev.

♪ Don't you ♪

Oh, yeah!

Yeah!

♪

I'm good.

I definitely fell a lot, but, you know, that's part of snowboarding.

Yeah, Kevin!

When I was a younger kid,

I remember thinking that, if something bad happens to me,

I'm gonna be able to come back, and I'm gonna be able to come back really strong.

And then it's like it happened to me, and it's weird to have thought that.

♪

Stay with us, Kevin. We're here. We're here.

♪

Yeah!

How's it feel to be back? It feels good.

- I'm lucky, and I'm happy. - The ride of a lifetime.

I can definitely come back and win, and I know that,

but it's not gonna be easy.

Nothing in life now is coming easy.

And I used to do a lot better, but now I know that I can do it.

I just gotta fight a lot harder.

K.P., right before his first banked slalom.

- Oh, boy. Oh, boy. - How you feeling?

I'm psyched. I'm a little nervous. I'm not gonna lie.

First contest back. What's it been? Over two years.

Just stay on those banks.

Yeah, K.P.

Racer ready.

- Three, two, one. - Goggles.

Go!

Yeah, Kevin!

♪ ♪ But I love you now ♪

♪ Love is inside you It goes spinning round ♪

♪ Like a Ferris wheel ♪

My snowboarding is bad right now. It is really hard.

I was bummed out, and I wish I had done well,

but I definitely am not good enough and not in the place that I need to be...

to be doing really well in events.

♪ People shout and people freak ♪

♪ I'm staring at the scene ♪

High Cascade, session two.

We're here. Frends Crew is up here having a high ollie contest.

Oh! Whoo!

Oh, yeah!

Is Kevin the same? He's not.

He's not the Kevin before his accident.

Oh, boy. Yeah, Kevin.

Yeah, Kevin!

Oh!

Ow!

Kevin fricking hit his head, and...

no matter how many years go by, it's like...

You just want to shake him. "Kevin, wake up," you know. It's like...

What the hell?

It's definitely embarrassing for us sometimes to be out in public with Kevin.

No offense, Kevin.

But sometimes he'll just say something inappropriate,

coming off as mean, like too up-front and blunt about things.

He was definitely the older brother.

He was definitely my older brother and my mentor,

and now it's the other way around.

Kevin! Kevin! I'm telling you... slower.

I'm telling you... a little bit slower.

Uncle Dan's telling me what to do.

And maybe, you know, don't ride that jump all the way out. Give it a little...

Yeah, you want to ollie before.

- The weather's pretty bad. - Yeah, Kev.

Okay, okay.

The bad voice in my head says...

it's not gonna end.

I'm never gonna be able to get rid of this pain.

I'm not getting past this brain injury.

It's not going anywhere.

Two and a half years later, hearing that your memory is at a four percent,

I'm not even close.

The worst about me now is kind of my filter...

and how I come across in such a bad way when I'm really not meaning to...

be mean or negative.

You know, I really want to be happy, and I want to be positive,

and I feel like there's times that, you know, it comes across that I'm not,

and I just really hate that.

My double vision is so bad.

I'll go running on the trails out back,

and I will start running into stuff.

And I can't, like, see where these different trees are.

I just feel like, whether it's the NFL, skiing,

snowboarding, skateboarding, just like all these different sports,

people are hitting their heads, and they're having serious repercussions.

Now to champion freestyle skier Sarah Burke.

She is in critical condition right now after an accident on a training run...

left her with a traumatic brain injury.

It happened on the exact same course...

where snowboarder Kevin Pearce suffered a traumatic brain injury in 2009.

This morning, Sarah Burke is in critical condition...

with her husband, Rory Bushfield, also a freeskier, by her side.

The very hardest part...

Well, I guess, of all the...

was just getting the news.

Just was like... I just did not want to believe it.

You know, I turned on my phone, and I had a bunch of missed calls...

and a bunch of text... like, "Call me now." "Call me now."

And it's all, like, the people that are with Sarah.

I'm just like, "No, no, no, no, no."

And I call, you know.

Felt like smashing my cell phone, you know.

And then I just... I just went as quick as I could down there.

She was doing an alley-oop flat spin 540.

It's one of the most beautiful tricks you can do in the half-pipe really.

I can't do it. It's like a super-hard trick.

She had it dialed. She'd done lots.

She was skiing really well, landed one perfectly just before.

Like, hiked up and went and then did another one and just,

I think... I think she just maybe pushed off the wall a little too much,

and super unlucky crash.

I talked to her mom when they were in the hospital,

and I knew it was really, really serious.

Same half-pipe, same place.

I know. And then I was like, "Why?" you know.

"Why would it turn out the way it does?"

Common sense tells you that there's real risk here.

When the sport first started, those courses that they were on,

the top of those was only six to eight feet high.

Now it's 22 feet high. So you could be falling as many as 40 feet.

If you're falling that far, you could reach speeds of 30 miles an hour.

Now, recreational helmets will protect you up to about 17 miles an hour,

but as we saw with Kevin Pearce, he just went snowboarding.

Yeah, Kevin gives us great hope. Just saw him recently.

And... To have him back. And as Sarah's husband, Rory, said,

she is gonna fight to recover.

We had a lot of hope.

It was like... It was a really slow process.

And we had... Yeah, we were, like, all 100% sure, you know,

she would come through.

Like, it's Sarah, you know. Just so tough.

Yeah. And... Oh.

The doctors coming in.

Just the bearers of bad news, you know.

You could tell... I could tell right when the doctor walked in.

That day he told us, I knew... I was like,

"Yeah, that guy is not telling us good news."

You know.

He didn't have to talk me. I knew.

It was like as soon as he walked in.

It was hard to hear those words. So hard.

Sarah Burke, a champion freestyle skier...

who's been seen as an early favorite...

for a possible gold medal in the next Winter Olympics,

has died tonight, nine days after a training accident.

Snowboarder Kevin Pearce suffered a traumatic brain injury...

on the same course in 2009.

There's nothing mellow about the sports that we're doing...

and kind of the tricks we're doing.

Burke's family is said to be grateful...

for the support and messages honoring her.

They are also dealing with the medical bills from the Utah hospital.

Initial estimates put the cost of her care at more than half a million dollars.

Many have questioned why Burke wasn't covered by insurance.

The Freestyle Skiing Association says...

its coverage only applies to sanctioned competitions.

But when she was injured, Burke was participating in an event...

for one of her sponsors, Monster Energy drinks.

Despite those concerns, this morning, one thing is clear:

No one is questioning the legacy of Sarah Burke.

And speaking of that legacy, thanks largely to Burke's efforts,

freestyle skiing will be an Olympic sport in 2014.

♪

♪ I'm slowly drifting to ♪

I'd say we're mountain folk.

It's where we met. It's where we... we play, we live and...

Hopefully where we die. Where we'll die.

♪ This star is a planet ♪

♪ I culminate ♪

My dream was always to win the Olympics.

Sarah basically got girls into the... into, like, skiing.

Skiing events didn't have girls.

And you got 'em in. It's like... It's huge.

It's so sick they're skiing half-pipes in the Olympics.

And you get to go. We'll see. We'll see. Hopefully.

In Russia. It's awesome.

A light will never go out if it lights a thousand more.

♪ I'm on my way ♪

The action sports family recently lost a very cherished member,

freeskier Sarah Burke.

♪

It's been said that the brave do not live forever,

but the cautious do not live at all.

I just feel bad. I mean, you get in a scenario...

where you see something unfortunate.

It really shocks the community, and it puts this weird, strange light on the sport...

where people are questioning the safety of the sport.

But you don't have to do what I'm doing to go have a good time.

I don't sometimes like what I'm doing.

I do it because I need the satisfaction and the fulfillment...

to make me feel better about myself,

like I've achieved some new level that I never dreamed of.

We make cars faster. We make trains faster.

We innovate. We do that. That's just what we do. We want to create more.

But that's why we do it.

Yeah, baby! Yeah, baby! Yeah!

A perfect 100!

A perfect 100! The first time ever!

So I've been doing these scans for a long time,

and as I watch ESPN,

you see the highlights, and then you see who got arrested that day.

And it's totally connected to brain trauma.

Your brain's involved in everything you do.

I mean, when you hurt it, it hurts your ability to do everything in your life,

especially control your impulses.

Did I show you some of my NFL brains?

So these are running backs. So look at this guy.

So your brain looks so much better...

than this guy.

Last time you said you can be a little bit irritable with others.

- How is that? - Still irritable with others.

But I always have been for the last two and a half years,

so it's nothing new.

Is it different than before the injury?

You would say so. I wasn't as irritable, was I? I would say it's different.

Do you start getting down on yourself...

and start getting into sort of negative thought patterns?

I was just thinking, like,

not that I'm a failure, just, like...

just, like, that I can do something so stupid so often.

So, whenever you get the thought "I'm an idiot,"

you globalize it, and it totally trashes your self-esteem.

Our goal is to get you to the best place you can be.

It'll only happen if you have disciplined thoughts.

Mm-hmm.

Oh!

Yeah!

I'll do a little exercise with you. Okay, Trevor, touch your elbow.

Where's your elbow?

Can you touch it on your other side?

Point to just your elbow.

Elbow? Yeah. Just your elbow.

This one? Okay.

So, there are certain things that are a little off.

For instance, the other day, Trevor and Peyton,

who is Trevor's 12-year-old brother...

they all went golfing.

And they got a golf cart, because, of course, Trevor has a hard time walking,

and all of a sudden, snap, no control of impulses,

and Trevor ran Peyton over on the golf course.

- Directly over? - He knocked... So, here's Peyton. Here's the golf cart.

Ran... Whipped him down and ran... The entire golf cart was over...

And the craziest was is that Trevor's facial expression...

was just like, "Yeah. Yeah."

- Just like, it was pretty funny? - Yeah.

It was classic, just running over your brother in a golf cart.

Just like cruising right over him.

Yep. Yeah.

These brain injuries are pretty crazy in a sense that...

See, Kevin... Like, it's totally, totally...

invisible.

Exactly. It is invisible.

Completely. And the sad thing is is...

I watched that day you went back and snowboarded again, and I wasn't smiling.

I was crying, because this second injury has not been fun.

Kevin, you had a great life before, but you're given a totally different brain.

And so you can't go back to who you were before.

You have to go with what you have now.

And part of being here, for me,

is for you to be able to hear what Tammie's talking about.

Right? 'Cause she has the experience... and Trevor does too... that we don't have.

And, to this day, Trevor, what do you want to do?

Snowboarding. Yeah.

And where do you want to go?

Utah.

It has not been an easy thing,

because... Trevor, what do you always tell me?

Shut up.

Yeah. I mean, he... When people are around, he talks, he communicates.

But when it's just Trevor and I...

You gotta be nicer to mom. No.

Come on! Why not?

I don't know. Mom's... No, you should be nice to mom.

I know you're brain injured. I know what it's like to be brain injured.

I'm brain injured. Yep.

It sucks. But you can fix it. You can change. You can work on it.

But being mean to them is not helping. Nope.

And it's not funny. Mm-hmm.

I'm not kidding with you. You gotta help 'em out a little bit.

And I know snowboarding is good, man.

Snowboarding was awesome when we used to get to do it,

but, you know, life's changed, and things are different now, and...

And it's the last thing that you ever wanted was to have a brain injury.

Mm-hmm.

And you did not want to screw this thing up like we did.

'Cause mine's screwed up too, man, but you gotta love it,

you gotta realize that things have changed now.

Yep.

You can change this. You can get better.

You gotta work hard and love them.

Shit's gonna get better. Trust me. Yep.

You keep working, we'll get better. All right.

You got a good life. You got a good house. You got a good family.

You got it all, man. Yep.

It's no easy road to go down to try and get into that brain.

Right. But I feel...

But I do think he was listening to you.

I feel like it could be worth it. Yeah.

I feel like I could change their lives, and that's been something for me about this.

It's like this has changed my life, and I can help now change other people's lives...

It's a good thing. Almost could make it, you know...

Try and make it feel like it's worth it. Right.

A wake-up call. It's just kind of like waking up and realizing that,

you know, my life has changed, you know,

that I am brain injured, and, you know, that's kind of how things are gonna be.

And it's a whole new life for me.

I used to be waking up every morning...

in a new country going to a big snowboard contest,

and now it's waking up every morning and just being so happy to be here.

Kevin, I have a friend who had a waterskiing accident,

and it left him with a serious head injury,

but your story has inspired him.

And I just want to say thank you.

Kevin, for sharing your lessons learned,

for your spirit to conquer adversity...

and for personal triumphs small and large,

thank you from Passages, presented to Kevin, October 10, 2012.

Thank you so much. I used to win a lot of contests,

and I used to win a lot of trophies, and, you know,

since this, I haven't won any trophies, so...

I got the feeling back.

For so long, it's like you have that false reality,

and it's like there's nothing telling you that it just can't happen anymore,

and then, you know, it was really, I think, when I first got on my snowboard...

and first tried doing things, it was like, "All right. You don't have it anymore.

You've lost... You've lost that."

A couple months after the accident,

I remember so clearly being like,

"Oh, I wonder if I'm gonna be able to ride in the Olympics."

You know, I was in the hospital there for another four months.

I was two years away from snowboarding,

and I thought that I might be going to the Olympics.

Like, I was so far gone, and, like, now I don't know how far gone I still am.

David... he looks at pictures of you from when you first got hurt,

that he has on his computer,

and he watches videos, and I think he gets...

Dave, I want to be there for you now, and I want you to be okay with it...

that I'm not gonna do that stuff anymore.

You know, I understand that I can't do double corks.

I've come to terms with the fact that that's not gonna happen anymore.

So you should try as hard as you can not to worry about that.

You know, I think the hardest thing for me to come to accept,

and, you know, that I've been so fortunate because I have accepted,

is how much my life has changed...

and just how different things are now and how different things will be forever.

So I'm curious, David,

when you're listening to Kevin talk about that,

if you could learn something about accepting your Down syndrome.

Dave, there are definitely a lot of hard things in this.

There's definitely a lot of things that aren't that good,

but we have a lot of good things, and we've got a really good family here to help us...

and a really good support system.

You know, I think that's the biggest part is to understand...

that things are different,

but things are good, and things are okay.

So, can you know that, and will you understand...

that I am gonna be safe, and I'm gonna be able to make the right decisions,

and you don't need to worry about me?

Okay.

Let me ask you this question, Dave.

Do you feel like you're happy right now and things are going well for you?

What you said about him... about what he said that he's not gonna do double corks.

That's making you feel happier in your life?

Yeah. You know, I think that would help... not to look at the pictures.

Have a picture of him how he is now. Yeah.

That's what you want a picture of. You don't need pictures...

of where I was and remembering the old times.

You need pictures of remembering now.

We are about to feast.

You have to cut it here.

This is my first carve.

Dave, happy Thanksgiving.

Kev is home.

♪

♪ One day, baby, we'll be old ♪

♪ Oh, baby, we'll be old and think of all the stories that we could have told ♪

♪ One day, baby, we'll be old ♪

♪ Oh, baby, we'll be old ♪

♪ And think of all the stories ♪

♪ That we could have told ♪

♪ Little me and little you ♪

♪ Kept doing all the things they do ♪

♪ They never really think it through ♪

♪ Like I can never think you're true ♪

♪ Here I go again, the blame ♪

♪ The guilt, the pain, the hurt, the shame ♪

♪ The founding fathers of our plane ♪

♪ That's stuck in heavy clouds of rain ♪

♪ One day, baby, we'll be old ♪

♪ Oh, baby, we'll be old ♪

♪ And think of all the stories that we could have told ♪

♪ One day, baby, we'll be old ♪

♪ Oh, baby, we'll be old ♪

♪ And think of all the stories ♪

♪ That we could have told ♪

♪ One day, baby, we'll be old ♪

♪ Oh, baby, we'll be old ♪

♪ And think of all the stories that we could have told ♪

♪ One day, baby, we'll be old ♪

♪ Oh, baby, we'll be old ♪

♪ And think of all the stories ♪

♪ That we could have told ♪

♪ One day, baby, we'll be old ♪

♪ Oh, baby, we'll be old ♪

♪ And think of all the stories ♪

♪ That we could have told ♪

♪ One day, baby, we'll be old ♪

♪ Oh, baby, we'll be old ♪

♪ And think of all the stories ♪

♪ That we could have told ♪

♪ One day, baby, we'll be old ♪

♪ Oh, baby, we'll be old ♪

♪ Oh, baby, we'll be old ♪

♪ One day, baby, we'll be old ♪

♪ Oh, baby, we'll be old ♪

♪ And think of all the stories ♪

♪ That we could have told ♪

♪ One day, baby, we'll be old ♪

♪ Oh, baby, we'll be old ♪

♪ And think of all the stories ♪

♪ That we could have told ♪

♪ One day, baby, we'll be old ♪

♪ Oh, baby, we'll be old ♪

♪ Oh, baby, we'll be old ♪

♪ Oh, baby, we'll be ♪

♪ One day, baby ♪

♪ We'll be old ♪

♪ Oh, baby, we'll be old ♪

♪ Think of all the stories ♪

♪ That we could have told ♪

♪ One day, baby, we'll be old ♪

♪ Oh, baby, we'll be old ♪

♪ And think of all the stories ♪

♪ That we could have told ♪

Closed-Captioned by Captions, Inc., Burbank, CA