A Story of Recovery

NBC’s coverage of the Olympics on Monday included a segment on American snowboarder Kevin Pearce. Pearce, considered the chief competition for Shaun White, hit his head on the lip of the halfpipe during training on New Years’ Eve and suffered a traumatic brain injury. He was attempting a double cork, an air maneuver that consists of two flips and three spins, at the time of the crash. Soon after the injury, he was placed in an induced coma to limit brain swelling.

Now out of a coma, Pearce is in rehab, trying to regain some speech, vision and muscle control, which were all affected by the accident. The way his parents and three older brothers, all of whom are avid snowboarders, are handling the situation is inspiring. With an unbelievable amount of patience and courage, the family stays upbeat and encourages Kevin every day on his slow, but meaningful recovery. The family gets much of its patience from Kevin’s brother, David, who has Down syndrome. The brothers are very close.

Kevin hopes to be walking on his own by the end of the week.