35
Fredericksburg, VA
Christopher Newport University
Classification: SB-LL2
Joe Pleban grew up in Fredericksburg, Virginia, living an adventure-filled life with his parents and two younger sisters. The family regularly traveled and took part in scuba diving, hiking and swimming. Joe grew up spending time on the slopes with his family in Vermont, first skiing and eventually snowboarding, and he fell in love with the sport. He had a competitive drive that expressed itself early and across multiple sports. A swimmer throughout high school, he switched to rugby at Christopher Newport University for the social and physical intensity of the sport.
After his high school graduation, Joe broke his ankle while wakeboarding, and the injury never really healed. Doctors discovered he had developed pigmented villonodular synovitis (PVNS), a rare joint disease in which benign tumors invade and destroy joint tissue. After six years living with the disease, he was using a cane and faced with a choice between ankle fusion, which would preserve the limb but leave him in severely limited mobility and amputation. Inspired by watching Para snowboarders and the hope of reclaiming his active lifestyle with a prosthetic, Pleban chose amputation. The surgery was performed in June 2014 at Georgetown University Hospital in Washington, D.C.
In the weeks before surgery, Pleban built a bucket list of experiences to share with his left foot before losing it: skydiving, music festivals, a Caribbean vacation and more. He documented everything on a public Facebook page called "The Last Adventures of Joe's Left Foot." The page went viral and earned national media coverage from ABC News, Huffington Post, and People.com. The campaign was equal parts humor, honesty and a genuine invitation for others facing similar decisions to feel less alone. It also established Pleban's instinct for storytelling and public engagement as a dimension of his identity that would endure long after the surgery.
Recovery from the amputation was complicated by additional surgeries to address nerve complications and phantom limb pain. When he was finally able to return to sport, Pleban found his direction in January 2017, when he traveled to Copper Mountain, Colorado, and connected with the Adaptive Action Sports team. He competed in his first NorAm and IPC adaptive snowboard events on that same trip, discovered that he belonged at that level, and committed to building a career in the sport. He was named to the U.S. Parasnowboard Team in 2019. In April 2021, seven years after his amputation, Joe won a pair of bronze medals at a double world cup snowboardcross event in Colere, Italy. He has also competed at the FIS Para Snowboard World Championships multiple times, earning a career-best sixth-place finish in snowboard cross at the 2025 world championships in Big White, Canada.
In 2022, Pleban missed the Paralympic Winter Games Beijing 2022 but was able to be present for the birth of his daughter, Jameson, who was born during the Games. Her handprints are painted on his competition helmet as a reminder of why he rides. He returned to full international competition, competing in world cup events during the 2024-25 season and qualifying for the U.S. Ski & Snowboard Team in the Paralympic Winter Games Milano Cortina 2026.
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