In one year, snowboarder Kevin Pearce went from standing atop podiums at the X Games to relearning how to brush his own teeth after a traumatic brain injury. Raised in Vermont, the youngest of four brothers, Pearce, a permanently upbeat but highly competitive figure, was well on his way to fulfilling his ambition to be, he says, “the greatest snowboarder in the world”. The accident not only stripped him of his chance of Olympic glory, it nearly killed him. At 28 years old he’s lived a life full of breakthroughs, astonishing recoveries and heartache. He remains upbeat, and recently established The Love Your Brain Foundation.