All language subtitles for The Crash Reel 2013 (The Crash Reel 2013) (ENGLISH)

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

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

What are you thinking
about Vancouver?

Has it said it yet?

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

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

Now the new 22-foot wall, how is
that going to 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 air time 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 going to be the first time that we
see it in the Olympics with the 22-foot

walls, and I think people are going to
be blown away at what they get to see.

Ring it!

Oh, it's a battle thing!

All right!

All right, come on, let's
get it going here, David.

You've got to step
up how you do it.

Okay, now this looks good.

I'm getting thrown down.

Oh, watch this.

Fabio's here.

That's Fabio.

Our parents
believed in us, really.

They've given us a sense of...

Belonging.

Belonging.

Yes.

Thank you, David.

Getting is the best snowboarder
and the best pleasure.

Uh-huh.

First day of practice.

Hey, what up?

Kevin Pierce.

Just hanging.

Friends crew.

It's day one.

Aspen.

We've got the pipe to ourselves.

Are you ready?

Are you scared?

Yes!

There's

a curb in the bottom here.

I'm a bit frustrated.

There's a curb.

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

Curb your enthusiasm
at the bottom?

Yeah.

Yeah, it's bumpy on this wall.

Yeah.

But we're out here trading,
for the Winter Games.

2010.

Road to Vancouver right now.

This is the road.

This is.

This is where we're taking it.

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.

Rock, paper, scissors.

Rock, paper, scissors.

Shoot.

The conclusion of the one-day Ashman
trip... pipes sucked... and we're out.

Peace.

Stay with us, Kevin.

You're good, Kev.

All good.

You guys did awesome.

All right?

It might have been the worst
thing I've ever seen in my entire life.

Like, definitely one of the
hardest things I've ever done.

Maybe at the hospital
in like, is it nine minutes?

He caught his toe edge.

And just, boom, like that.

Like, so fucking hard.

And no hands to cover.

No hands to cover his face.

And he hit him right away.

Right away.

I fucking knew that it was bad.

Just gonna say a prayer.

Just say a prayer.

That's all you can do.

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.

A

No.

So.

So.

So.

A little pause...
and we are back.

Come on, Kev.

Come to dada.

Come on.

How old is he, mommy?

Almost 11 months.

11 months.

Maybe you're going to fall down.

This

is Kevin Pierce.

He's one year.

And his biggest problem
is he doesn't really...

Oh, who's that?

I don't know.

I'm going with the water.

Oh, yeah!

We got together and we

sure can't stay.

Now, baby, if I can leave in drugs,
you know we've got to leave today.

Just exactly where we're going, I
cannot say, but we might even be the USA.

Oh, shit.

A little bit bigger, I thought.

You've got to go faster, dude.

How old are you, Sean?

Nine.

Now, Sean, every time I've seen you ride
the halfpipe, which I saw you at camp and

I saw you at board
day last year in the U .S.

Open, you absolutely amazed me.

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

Well, you've got to crank your arms
back, and then once you hit the wall,

swing them forward, and then once
this goes, then your legs will follow.

I was born with a heart defect, so I
had a couple surgeries when I was

just one years old, and they said I wasn't
going to be good at sports, but 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
that 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 Pokemon.

I was playing Pokemon
and stuff while everybody's

out partying, and
I just didn't fit in.

I met Kevin when I was about
9, 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 would all get
together and just have a great time.

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

I was always focused
on Kevin's brother.

You're welcome!

Because 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!

What do you think about that?

I didn't even think I had one.

I would say Sean was much quicker to kind
of 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 kid's board

because there was no
such thing at the time.

And then a couple 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,
all winter, I was able to just snowboard.

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

sometimes riding cold 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 Pierce, raised on maple syrup, sharp
cheddar, weaned on the hills of Vermont.

This guy right
here is slaying it.

17 years old in snowboarding.

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

And Pierce is
man-sized on his delivery.

Kevin Pierce came out of
nowhere taking the win there.

Kevin Pierce, you're 17 years
old, out here doing the slope style.

You went up against
some big competition today.

The last couple of years,
it was like you go on these

trips and like you got to
pull out your school books.

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.

Very accomplished slope style.

Half pipe as well
as quarter pipe rider.

Whoa.

Damn.

Wow.

Great 540 right here.

Yeah.

This is the tightest
run we've seen yet.

This whole year has
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 Pierce.

Pierce 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

because it's so difficult
to do those spins high.

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 US Open.

Let's give it up
for Kevin Pierce!

This whole friends
crew is just this group of

kids that we got, you
know, rolling together.

Traveling and
having a great time.

Danny, Mason,
Jack, Luke, Scotty.

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

Took the eye out of it.

Kind of makes sense.

No eye on friends.

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

Come on, Kevin!

You're so mad!

Yeah!

What are you all doing up here?

I'm running the game.

I'm winning.

When I was

19, that was the Olympic year.

It was 2006.

And everything,
I competed in it.

I had an undefeated season.

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

And this is where
Sean wants to be.

Sean lighting it up
with a frontside 1080.

All he needs to do
is land this last trick.

Immaculate one from Sean White.

Sean White,
incredible execution.

And a visibly elated Sean White.

Competing against Sean 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.

The Olympic year.

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

And Sean White was not
on the top of the podium.

It was Kevin.

Sean White from the
United States, almost.

Kevin, Kevin Pierce from
the United States, almost.

Sean White, Sean White!

And when I heard Kevin beat Sean,
I was just like, wow, did Sean fall?

I was like, no, Sean landed his
run, and Kevin landed a better run.

I 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.

No, no, no, that's not right.

Sean got salty about it.

He was all wasted
after the contest.

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

Sean 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 both
the rooms are cracked open.

And there's just fire
extinguisher shit everywhere.

I had a relatively new
Mac that was just fucked.

So Sean, if you see this,
you know we have a computer.

So at that time, Kevin was
actually living at Sean's house.

And Sean called up his mom.

He told his mom to
put Kevin's stuff on

Sean's front porch,
including $30,000 in yen.

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

And it was like, all right, you
want to kick me out of your house?

I'm going to take this out
on you and snowboard it.

Are you guys, you
guys are friends?

Let's not, let's not talk about
that part, 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.

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

Oh, really?

Okay.

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, pay attention.

No, no, no.

No, I know.

Kevin Pierce.

For Sean White.

So Kevin has started winning all the
big air contests, slope style contests,

half pipe contests.

He beat Sean.

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 the switch.

He was like, all right, game on.

I remember going to Munich Aaron
style and we were paired up first round.

I landed like the
best trick I could do.

And then Kevin outdid me.

And it was just like,
Kevin's going to kill it.

He's making so much money.

He's making like 400
Gs or something like that.

And like three months,
you know, it's like, it's sick.

I couldn't, I couldn't
even believe it.

Kevin Pierce.

Kevin Pierce.

Heavy drop-in after
Shawn, he did that front flow,

so I knew I had to step
it up and it worked out.

Style, amplitude and
technical perfection.

For a while there, it was
just this 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
share the same talent.

It's 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.

Shawn was in first
and just snuck in there.

I'm happy, man.

Great day, great day.

Holy shit, did you
read the caption?

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

What?

That is so sick!

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

Here we go.

Giant frontside air.

Here's a big McTwift,
stomps that down.

Cab 1080.

Beautiful stomp.

The crowd is starting
to ramp up in volume.

The bar has been set.

Shawn White.

Right now about
to take his final run.

Kevin Pearce trying
to stay calm, cool and

collected, but he knows
that Shawn is out for blood.

Here we go.

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 going to 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, man.

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

Hey, I beat him last week.

That's not good for you.

I know.

I want you to beat
him next 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 Shawn.

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

Kevin was that he was the
guy to beat Shawn White.

And Shawn 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 raddest thing ever.

Like, $2 million worth of snow
moving and avalanches and helicosts.

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

I knew that I was going to 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.

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

And as soon as we heard
about it, we're just like, oh, great.

Like, as if he
wasn't good enough.

Shawn takes it very seriously.

He had his girlfriend sign a
non-disclosure agreement to not let

anybody know about
the tricks he was learning.

When Kevin was like, well, now we need to
go build a private half pipe and learn all

these tricks if we want to even,
you know, be on the same level.

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 Shawn.

Kevin is like a friend, and Shawn's this
machine athlete who has one goal only,

and that is to win.

We're out here in our
little secret location

to build a half pipe
for Kevin Pierce.

Kevin was the first person to
bring the airbag to snowboarding.

What I was imagining
is we just cut it.

Cut that right there.

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 airbag at the bottom.

The way progression is and evolution of
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 airbag 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 Chuckfest.

And you know, like
anything you could think

of in your head, you
would try in this airbag.

It just opened up a whole
new spectrum of tricks.

The trick me and Kev were trying to
really dial down was that cab double cord.

Moving forward into
this year, it's going to be

crazy seeing how much
half pipe riding changes.

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

cords that you're not really
going to have a chance.

Kev tried the cab double
cords into that airbag probably.

A hundred times before he felt like he
had the motion to try it 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.

And as you can see here, it was,
it was pretty bad, but I was lucky.

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 like down to
like, like 3% body fat.

That's not going to happen.

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

Just 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.

And Kev might look
at me like, nope.

I don't want to be a fat kid.

I don't stress out.

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 too much
about beating everyone else or falling.

I don't like to
think about falling.

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

We're going to make that pipe happen
and just have our crew riding there.

I've been trying
those double course.

They've just been giving
me the hardest time.

I don't feel that confident yet.

So that's kind of
been a battle for me.

Curve at 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.

So it's New Year's Eve.

It's a sunny day.

Everything is perfect.

We did our stretching.

Kev rode his bike.

I'm on the bike and it was good.

Everyone woke
up a little hungover.

Except me.

I was training.

The pipe was good.

Way better than Aspen.

Sorry Aspen, but it
sucked over there.

And the day is only going
to continue to get better.

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

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

I remember both of
us being super nervous.

We were just nervous.

It's always scary to
do the first double cork.

So me and Kevin did a little
rock, paper, scissors shoot.

And Kevin lost so he dropped in.

Kevin tried the trick.

Came very close.

When we look up
and I see Kevin do...

his cab double cork.

And just not catch
anything but his face.

I happen to look
up and I'm just like...

Oh my god.

That was so bad.

It was a perfect storm of falls.

Like it couldn't have
been any worse.

I started hollering
for ski patrol.

I said, hey, we're going to
need a helicopter up here.

I'm up there at the top of
the half pipe and I'm like...

Alright 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 going to be alright.

We had to like put a
tube down his throat so he

could breathe because he
wasn't breathing on his own.

So you know, what
are they saying?

Well, we went up there.

His eye was totally swollen.

They say he blew his pupil out, which
is a sign of a massive head trauma.

It's just not looking good, man.

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.

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 extra
ventricular 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, alright.

Thank you so much.

So, they say that he, they're going to
do the hole and then they put like a thing

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

And then they're
going to take him out.

The sedation will be off and
they're going to 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 until 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 I've ever seen.

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 because 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?

Like, 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 going
to happen, whether he was going

to live or die or if he did live,
what his life would be like.

I would constantly watch this.

I would 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 email 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 side
and they're in this competition.

Let's go.

Holding it proud.

Stay strong, Kevin.

We miss you here, man.

We're all pulling for you.

Hard to ride a pipe without you.

I just want to tell
you I love you, buddy.

This one's for Kev.

We miss you out here.

We love you, Kev.

Kevin, stay strong.

So I hope you get well soon.

You know, you can pull through.

We're rooting for you.

We love you tons.

I love you, buddy.

Okay, we're going to
move you now, Kev.

We are on our way with Kevin from
no critical care to neuroacute care.

After how many days?

After 26 days of
being in intensive care.

This is a big day for us.

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's 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 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 gotta do.

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

Okay, but sometimes
accidents happen.

Right, absolutely.

And we were all thinking
about Kevin Pearce.

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

That he was able to do
some movement today.

That was the latest word.

Push up, extend, extend, extend.

Good.

Tighten up the foam cheeks.

Okay.

Head up.

Chest up.

Chest up this part, Kev.

Up, yep.

Look at that.

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,
he didn't make it.

His name was Mark.

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.

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

We were sharing food with
him, you know, and then...

Kev, another great day, huh?

Yeah.

Did you have a great day today?

I had a great day.

Good day.

Yeah.

I had a great day.

Great day.

Kevin Pierce is a miracle man.

Look at this, Kev.

Pierce be with you.

Pierce be with you.

You've got some fans, don't you?

These boys.

These boys.

You've got some fans.

Do you have a nickname?

Do you know your nickname, Kev?

No.

You don't?

KP.

KP.

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 shake it.

And everywhere you
would look, there was these

stickers, like, you know,
like, I ride for Kevin.

You know.

I just, you know, I couldn't really escape
this feeling of, like, you know, what if?

What if I'm going to
crash in this next hit?

Last night, there was a heart-stopping
moment when America's snowboarding

superstar, Sean White,
endured a scary crash.

Snowboarding superstar, Sean 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, it hit my head.

It didn't help anything.

And I've been seeing stars.

How are you feeling?

I don't know.

I want to cry.

You want to cry?

Yeah.

How come?

I don't know.

Because I miss Kevin so much.

You do?

Hey.

Hey, Kevin.

How are you?

Good.

My name is David C.

Biel.

I have a disability.

Got a dance in the room.

But some people got it up soon.

Because I am an up kind of guy.

Well, first question about my disability
that I want to say is that I don't like it.

I hate it.

Yeah.

I don't like it.

I hate it.

I want my disability to go away.

Nothing back.

I know that I have it.

It's really hard to have it.

Sometimes I feel
stressed out about it.

And sometimes I feel
anxiety about it, too.

I just go up in my room.

I hang out there.

I cry sometimes.

And I book up.

Come downstairs.

And move on.

And have a day.

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?

Three.

So David is going to be competing in
what events today in the Special Olympics?

The Downhill on the Chairlift.

Downhill on the Chairlift.

Yep.

Whoa.

This is Pia Pierce, the
mother of the Olympian.

Good morning.

It is my pleasure to be here.

I'm here with David
Pierce this morning as we

prepare for the Special
Olympics of the year 2000.

This is the greatest skier in
the history of the Guichin Club.

Oh my, whoa wee-po-lee.

There we go.

David's coming down.

He's doing great.

He's lying down on the mountain.

Woo.

That was a great run.

46 seconds, Dave.

Is it fast?

Is it really fast?

Very fast.

I'd say you have a medal.

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.

Having David has been
incredibly valuable and important.

And same thing when Kevin
was first hurt, it was really...

I needed to hear all the
things that were going

to be good, not for
people to feel sorry for us.

My mom told me that
Kevin was in the hospital.

I was emotional.

I was afraid.

I was scared.

Because I know
that I might lose him.

I don't know what...

Hey

everyone, thanks
for all your support.

I'm doing better.

And the square and the X.

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

into a little competitive
game and he'll want to do it.

Is that the best fingering?

I think if you go that
way it's bigger, right?

Oh, get in there.

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

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

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

Huge straight air for Sean, setting
the momentum for the rest of his run.

Massive double cork.

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

This is unbelievable.

Sean

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.

Very excited.

Sean 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, Sean White.

Life in hospital.

Kevin's really sick.

He's having a really hard time.

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

Let's get up.

Let's get up.

There was a skier, C.R.

Johnson, who had 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 emails, 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 free skier 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 and 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 double core.

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 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.

On February 22nd, 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 15th 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.

Getting more aware
of your left side.

You 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.

I would just like to toast how much better
I have gotten and how much everybody has

helped me in here and how
amazing the progress has been.

Kevin, that was excellent.

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

Okay, so moving forward, how hard
do you see that I can hit my head?

Let's not hit it.

You must really like it here if
you want to come back down here.

That's the question, Rosti.

When can I come back?

All right, that's it, baby.

Three months in
Craig and I'm out.

Later!

We're here.

We made it!

Woo!

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.

I wouldn't change what
went on between us.

I wouldn't really
wish it upon anyone.

Hey, guys.

Hi.

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.

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

Do you think you want
to beat Sean White?

I think that is a
great question.

All right.

I feel like I'm going to be doing
awesome work this season.

What happens is you
just catch a toe itch.

I think that, in a sense, the stage where
you're recovering and your brain isn't at

a place where it can
tell you what the right

decision is, it's good to
take advice from a family.

How long am I going
to take this advice for?

I don't know.

How much am I going to
have to take this advice for

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 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 endear yourself, is it fair on
your mother and the family to be put in

the position of taking care
of you for the rest of your life?

Concentrate.

Easy squeezy.

I was so scared!

I'm a bad kid, I'm a bad parent.

Come on, come on!

Come on!

Come on!

Come on!

Come on!

Come on!

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

infantry and I'm just riffing
around on this Segway.

This is bad fun!

This is awake surfing, so this
was my first time ever doing it.

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 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 going to continue

to do with my life
are going to be risky.

I understand that part of this
re-evaluation may be disappointing.

That 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 if you had a memory,

during those hour times,
you forgot what you said.

So one of the approaches
as a trial is going to

be putting you on a
memory-enhancing medicine.

My memory obviously didn't suck.

It's going to be
your memory pill.

It obviously didn't
suck that bad.

If I want to remember
it, I'll remember it.

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

That's exactly right.

And so I would say
that 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 going to
be fine for you to have a beer.

And whenever, just
obviously don't get drunk.

And then I kind of also
felt like I obviously don't

remember correctly from
what you guys are saying.

It was a total one-year rehab.

And now it's literally 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 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 Pierce.

It's because of all of you,
because of all of 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 Pierce.

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 someone.

We've watched John White, of course, grow
up before our very eyes here at Winter XT.

John White is snowboarding
while Ty Woods is golfing.

Oh, and there's a double.

Nicky putting it down
in the backside row.

Oh, my goodness gracious.

What about that row?

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 well I did.

To see how far
the sport has been

progressed in one
year is just unbelievable.

Snowboarding is my true love.

It's really hard to understand why I would
ever want to get back on a board after

what I've been through
unless you really

understood the feeling
I had for snowboarding.

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

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

I cannot wait to see
you back at it again.

I can't wait, man.

Don't tempt me.

I'll get back at it.

Take him down.

Are you tired of this shit yet?

Oh, I'm so tired of this shit.

Let me go party.

I haven't got to do any
fun shit this weekend.

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

Welcome back to ESPN 3D.

I'm Jamie Little.

Sarah Burke, she's going to
come back for the big air final.

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

And all the tricks came
from surfing and then skating.

We kind of all
inspired each other.

Skiers now want to be doing
what all the snowboards are doing.

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.

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 them.

Hey, Haley.

Can you come in here real quick?

I need you to help me out.

I need more meds.

Okay.

Hey, man.

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

You know what medication?

Yeah, I got Venpat,
Lexapro, and Lamotrigine.

Do you think you
could go pick them up?

Yeah.

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.

They continue to rehab 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 impulsivity, the
organization, the sensory overload.

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

We have some good
thing going on here.

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

And 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 don't know if the images are getting
farther apart or closer together, okay?

Look at the letter D.

Do you see single?

No, it's two.

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

He has a lot of things going on.

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 going to
need to be more than one surgery.

Because of the way that
the eye was injured, it's not

realistic to expect single
vision in every direction of gaze.

What's happening for you, Kevin?

Just worried about so
much, the smallest things.

In terms of having these worries
that you won't be able to do something?

I just don't know how to fix it.

I just can't tell if it
ever will be fixed.

When you say fixed,
what do you mean?

Just not have to deal with it.

Not have to worry about going to
get gas and not being able to get it.

It just feels like
it's never ending.

It's just like,
will it ever end?

It just feels like
it's never ending.

Thank you.

The surgery's over.

It's done.

This young man
was similar to you.

He's a Boulder College student.

Hi, Grant.

This is Kevin Pierce.

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 CU student, right?

You used to snowboard?

Yeah, brother.

Me too.

Snowboarding's
good stuff, isn't it?

Yeah.

You're looking good.

You got a nice old
bear there, dude.

That's chill, huh?

It's hard for him right now.

He's just had some surgery,
but he's going to 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.

It wasn't like that.

It wasn't like that.

It's all right.

It's all right.

It's been two years.

So let's go over this.

The MRI, 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,
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 has 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.

A couple of 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!

So 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.

Your travis doesn't clear it.

Watch.

Drills his nose in
to slow him down.

I hit my head plenty of times.

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 over.

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

Hands, nose, ribs,
back, surgery, shoulder.

What do you think?

And you've bounced
through so many things too.

And I've gotten real lucky.

Yeah.

This is a war inside my head.

Because I'm on
six head injuries.

Went from being a normal
adult to severely depressed,

severely anxious, bipolar and
alcoholism, chemical dependency.

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

So you see the guy fall and
he's laying there agonizing pain.

And he wants help.

The condest, the
coordinators, they don't care.

We don't have any kind
of like 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.

So I happen to stay the murder.

I didn't even know what
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 them
and I think that's crazy.

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

There is going to be times when that
one percent or that five percent chance

happens and you catch
your edge off the takeoff.

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.

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.

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

And advice.

I do think if Kevin hears our
feelings more than our advice.

But I do think he cares
about how we feel.

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

And love him very much.

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.

Look how they're feeling.

They're good.

They're really good.

Wow.

It is a family dinner.

First Thanksgiving
dinner of the year.

Thank you guys.

Wow.

Welcome back, Kev.

I think the conversation
needs to start with

what your plans are
about riding on snow.

How ready do you feel
like you are to snowboard?

I feel 100% confident.

Not us.

Not you?

Not everybody.

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

I just don't want you to die.

I don't want to
die either, Dave.

I don't want it.

I don't want you to die.

That's one.

And then number two is that I
don't want you to be with you.

And that I don't want you to... I
don't want you to be paralyzed.

Is that what you want?

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.

That's what I'm most
scared about, I guess.

Yeah.

It was pretty scary.

And I don't want
you to do that again.

And I don't want
you to get to risk.

You don't want me to?

I don't want it again.

No.

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

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've had more
than one TBI 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, how
could they ever put themselves in a

situation where they
might have another one?

It's really hard for
you guys to know.

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 because it's just...

You know what it
feels like to me, Cam?

It feels like an addiction.

I mean, if I was smoking every day, you'd
feel... 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... It creeps me.

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 I've

had this entire time 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 mommy jumped
in and made you rest more and take it easy

and get more help,
tremors started to get less.

So it was...

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

Because the
tremors are not good.

You know, after I broke my back,
I can't do a lot of the tricks I love,

like, that made
it as fun for me.

So snowboarding
isn't as fun as it was.

There's also the scenario that 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 going to stop.

He had a second.

Second time, not a
chance I'm going to stop.

Third time, got another one.

He's forced to retire.

He said, I guess I have
to say I'm going to retire.

But he can't.

He can't even say his name.

Yeah.

He can hardly talk.

How many professionals...

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 because we love you so much.

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.

You know, I need you to do it.

This thing doesn't...

Try... You try and do it.

You blew it so
thin in the bottom.

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

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.

Me and Adam talked
about this earlier on.

We said the 12th or 13th
was going to work best.

I don't want you to
snow, but competitive.

You don't want that, Dave?

Not competitive.

Not yet?

And my amazing sponsors.

They've stuck with me through
this whole journey I've been on.

And I've got to make
sure they all get the love.

Whether it's Burton, Nike, Volcom,
Amp Energy, Oakley, Friends.

Bam, baby.

Yo.

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

Yeah, a non-helmet.

All right.

Nike sticker.

Is that three inch?

Yep.

All right, cool.

I got one.

I'm putting it on.

Okay.

What a day.

Why aren't you wearing this?

Can you put this on already?

You're making me nervous.

You're friends.

We know that.

I know what you want.

This is the best.

Here we go.

It is unbeatable.

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.

All right.

Bye.

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.

This is what we've
been working on.

This is better than anything
I could have ever imagined.

Kevin Pierce is a miracle man.

We got the thumbs
up on a difference.

Let's do it boys.

Let's go Lynn.

Oh my gosh.

Yeah.

All right.

Here we

go.

Yeah.

See it hope.

Little.

Little.

We've made it happen.

Oh my gosh.

This is gonna pass again.

Full speed ahead.

I'm good!

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

When I was a younger kid, I remember
thinking that if something bad happens to

me, I'm going to be able
to come back, and I'm

going to 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 does it feel to be back?

It feels good.

I'm lucky and I'm happy.

It's kind of the
ride of a lifetime.

I can definitely come back and win, and
I know that, but it's not going to 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 got
to fight a lot harder.

KP, right before
his first bank slalom.

Oh boy.

How are you feeling?

Oh boy.

I'm psyched.

I'm a little nervous,
I'm not going to lie.

First contest back.

Over two years.

Just stay on those banks.

Yeah, KP!

Race it ready.

Yeah, buddy.

Three, two, one, go!

Yeah, KP!

Woo!

My snowboarding
is bad right now.

It is really bad.

It's 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.

High Cascade Session 2.

We're here.

Friends crews up here
having a high ollie contest.

Woo!

Woo!

Woo!

Woo!

Woo!

Woah!

Is Kevin the same?

He's not.

He's not the Kevin
before his accident.

Yeah, Kevin.

Yeah, Kevin.

Kevin freaking hit his head, and no
matter how many years go by, it's like...

I just want to shake him!

Kevin!

Wake up!

You know?

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 me, like too
upfront 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.

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.

Yeah, you wanted Ollie before.

The weather's pretty bad.

The bad voice in my head
says, it's not going to end.

I'm never going to 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 your

memories 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 last week.

It left her with a
traumatic brain injury.

It happened on the exact
same course where snowboarder

Kevin Pierce suffered a
traumatic brain injury in 2009.

This morning, Sarah Burke
is in critical condition with her

husband, Rory Bushfield,
also a free skier, by her side.

The very hardest part, well, I guess it
was all the, I was just getting the news.

It 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.

I had a bunch of text messages,
like, call me now, call me now.

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

I was like, no, no, no, no, no.

And I call, you know.

I felt like smashing my
cell phone, you know.

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

I'm doing an
alley-oop flat spin 540.

It's one of the most beautiful tricks
you can do in the halfpipe, really.

I can't do it.

It's like a super hard trick.

She had it done.

She had 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 halfpipe, same place.

And then I was like, well, 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 6 to 8 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
Pierce, he just went snowboarding.

Kevin gives us great hope to saw
him recently and to have him back.

And as Sarah's husband Rory
said, she is going to fight to recover.

We had a lot of hope.

It was like this
really slow process.

And we had, yeah, we were like all 100%
sure, you know, she would come through.

Sarah, you know,
it was just so tough.

Yeah.

And...

the doctors coming in, just the
bearers of bad news, you know.

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.

Like he didn't even
have to talk to me.

I knew as soon as he walked in.

It was hard to hear those words.

It was 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
Pierce 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 United States.

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.

Thank you.

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

efforts, freestyle skiing will
be an Olympic sport in 2014.

I'd say we're mountain poor.

It's where we bat, it's where we play,
we live and... Hopefully where we die.

Where we'll die.

My dream was always
to win the Olympics.

Sarah basically
got girls into skiing.

Skiing events didn't have girls.

And you've got them.

It's huge.

It's so sick that skiing
happens in the Olympics.

And you get to go.

Hopefully.

In Russia, it's awesome.

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

The Action Sports family recently
lost a very cherished member.

Free skier 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.

It's 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.

A perfect one!

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.

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's 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 to 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.

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's

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 not... So here's Peyton.

Here's the golf course.

Ran, whipped him
down and ran over.

The entire golf cart was over.

And the craziest was is that Trevor's
facial expression was just like, yeah.

Yeah.

It was pretty funny.

It was classic.

Just running over your
brother in a golf cart.

Just, like, cruising
right over him.

Yeah.

Yep.

These brain injuries are pretty crazy
in the sense that, 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 Tammy's talking about.

Right?

Because she has the experience and
Trevor does, too, that we don't have.

And to this day, Trevor, what do
you want to do when... 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, when people are around, he
talks, he communicates, but when it's

just Trevor and I… You
got to be nicer to Mom.

No.

Come on.

Why not?

I don't know.

Mom is… 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.

It sucks.

But you can fix it.

You can change.

You can work on it.

But being mean to
them is not helping.

It's not funny.

I'm not kidding with you.

I'm out of it.

And I know Snow
Warden's good, man.

Snow Warden was awesome
when we used to get to do it.

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

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

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

Cause mine screwed up too, man.

But you gotta love it.

You gotta realize that
things have changed now.

You can change this.

You can get better.

You gotta work
hard and love them.

Shit's gonna get better.

Trust me.

You keep working,
we'll get better.

Alright.

Got a good life.

Got a good house.

Got a good family.

You got it all, man.

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

But I do think he
was listening to you.

I feel like it
could be worth it.

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 almost could make it, you know,
try and make it feel like it's worth it.

Right.

The wake up call is just
kind of like waking up

and realizing that, you
know, my life has changed.

You know, that I'm
brain injured and, you

know, that's kind of
how things are gonna be.

And it's a whole new
life for me, you know.

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 water skiing 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
on October 10th, 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.

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, alright, you
don't have it anymore.

You've lost, you've lost that.

A couple of months after the accident,
I remember so clearly being like,

oh, I wonder if I'm going to
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.

I think, I know that you're snowboarding
now, but once you get to that level of

doing double corpse, then you have to
accept no, but doing the double corpse.

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... It makes me cry.

It makes the person cry.

Dave, I want to be there for
you now, and I want you to be

okay with it that I'm not
going to do that stuff anymore.

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

I've come to terms with the fact that
that's not going to 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 year-down syndrome.

I'm not sure if I can.

But I would smile.

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 going
to be safe and I'm going to be able to make

the right decisions and you
don't need to worry about me?

Yeah, I hope so.

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 he just said to me
about you not doing that, yes.

What you said about
him, about what he said,

that he's not going
to do double corks.

Right.

That's making you
feel happier in your life?

And not have me
looking at your pictures?

Yeah, you know, I think that would help
not to look at the pictures and look at

where... 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.

I

should cut it here.

This is my first carb.

Dave, Thanksgiving.

Kev is home, haha.