THE STORY BEHIND THE SCENES: VICTOR LORON AND HIS RECOVERY
Victor Loron, a french DC rider local of the valley of Les Trois Vallées in the Alps, has dropped a series of 3 videos (available on our instagram page) where he explains what happened to him in the winter of 2010. He got a brain injury after a really bad crash that got him knocked out and in a medically-induced coma for a few days. From training at the highest level of competitive snowboarding to fighting for his life in a hospital. Luckily, it’s a story with a happy end and nowadays he can still enjoy snowboarding at a very high level as well as coaching at his local valley.
We have reached him out to see if he could tell us more about his story. We thought this could be an inspiration for other people and that’s why we are today sharing the whole story in his own words. So thank you Victor for sharing your story and your message with all of us: ALWAYS WEAR A HELMET!
A post shared by SBES MAG (@sbesmag) on Nov 9, 2018 at 3:10am PST
«It’s winter 2010, I was 18 years old. At that age I was competing in the national cup and championship in France. That season I was staying along 3 months at Park City, Utah in America. I flew over there full of motivation with a goal: training snowboarding like an American, in one of the best freestyle places in the world, to improve my skills and level so then I could compete in France to be one day a pro snowboarder.
While I was there, I trained with the Park City Snowboard Team, competing with them at some TTR and at the Aspen Open (on the same slope of the Xgames). Also I was learning to speak English and enjoying my time in this amazing place full of nice people and incredible snowparks. It was an incredible stay, my first travel on my own and I learned a lot through this experience.
The story about the traumatic brain injury I had happened on the 23rd of March. I was supposed to head back to France like a week after. That day, I was riding with John, my « American dad ». The dad of a nice family that hosted me every time I went to Utah. I took him to the snowpark with me, I felt the pump that day. I was on the big jump line and started to spin.
I remember doing my firsts fs 1080 without corking. The session was going great with super good feelings. I wanted to try double backflip on a jump, the firsts tries were a few weeks before the accident along a TTR training in Colorado, so it still was not a trick that I had on my pocket, and It got me very scared and had to fight against that.
That day I did it once, no grab, facing the landing so wayyyy not stylish but… whatever, it was not the point yet. I landed and felt my wings growing and I thought « it’s chill, I can do more like this, easy! » My bad… I got back up, this time I was less focused, not scared at all anymore and then I made a mistake. Luckily for me the only thing I completely cannot remember is this last jump, except that I remember the rest of the day.
John was filming with his phone, I’ve got the video. I can see that I was going too fast. I overshot the jump, flipping one and a half like a spaghetti in the air. My knees weren’t tucked and I was not gonna make it this way. What did I have in my head? I have no idea, probably too much confidence, leading to a big technical mistake. I passed out, so imagine John looking at me sliding down the landing without any reaction anymore.
Then the rescue team brought me to a Hospital in Salt Lake city by helicopter. I spent 5 days in an induced coma with breathing assistance. The I spent two more weeks in high health care at that same hospital. My lovely mom flew there and was by my side 2 days after i woke up. I was lucky enough that the brain hemorrhages I had weren’t too bad and didn’t cause me so much troubles. I had for the next 5-6 months after the accident some trouble with remembering, speaking and understanding, but nothing too serious. I recovered pretty well.
Do you know what happened to Kevin Pearce? He had an impact in the pipe of Park City early December that same winter. He was training for the 2010 Olympics of Vancouver. His hemorrhages were unfortunately very big, his life turned out very different than mine. He can never get back on a board like before and his life quality has completely changed. He’s got many physical and neurologic troubles.
Thanks to him «Love your Brain» exists, and he has a strong message about the essential importance of caring about our own brains. Protect it before a drama happens!
I keep something in mind through that experience: Wear a helmet. It can save your life, so you better wear it as much as possible. And always stay focus and humble.»
Victor Loron.
Victor, still enjoying snowboarding, flying over a big pillow. Winter 2016. 📸 Andoni Epelde
