Kevin Pearce (born November 1, 1987) is the co-founder of the Love Your Brain Foundation, a nonprofit organization that aims to improve the quality of life of people affected by traumatic brain injury. He also is an inspirational speaker, and an American former professional snowboarder. He was born in Hanover, New Hampshire, and raised in Hartland, Vermont, before moving with his parents to Norwich, Vermont. He competed professionally from 2007 to 2009, when a crash during snowboard training left him with a traumatic brain injury. Career Pearce won The Arctic Challenge in 2007 and completed back-to-back titles with victory in 2008. He was also the first man to earn two Air & Style rings in one season, winning the Nokia Air & Style in Munich in 2007 and the Billabong Air & Style in Innsbruck in 2008. In the 2007–08 season he won the Swatch TTR World Snowboard Tour, garnering the TTR World Tour Champion title. He won three medals at the 2008 Winter X Games XII in Aspen, Colorado. He was also the first athlete in X Games history to compete in three medal events in one day. Pearce is a member of the Frends Crew (spelled without the "i" to emphasize the collective nature of the group) made up of snowboarders Mason Aguirre, Danny Davis, Scotty Lago, Keir Dillon, Mikkel Bang, Jack Mitrani, and Luke Mitrani. Frends is a group of riders who turned their initial friendship into a formal alliance in 2007 to move the sport away from its recent competitive and business focus and return the sport to its grassroots, collegial beginnings. 2009 injury On December 31, 2009, Pearce was critically injured during training in Park City, Utah. He struck his head above the left eye halfway down the pipe during a half-pipe training run trying a maneuver called a cab double cork. He was flown to the University of Utah Medical Center in Salt Lake City. On January 26, 2010, Pearce was transferred out of critical care and in early February was moved to Craig Hospital in Denver, Colorado, a rehabilitation center that specializes in traumatic brain injuries. By June, Pearce was back with his family in Vermont. In an August 23, 2010, interview, Pearce said he was lucky to recover and "...excited to get back onto a snowboard." However, in a December 2011 interview with NBC, he said he will not compete again but