At 19 years old, Crystal Phillips was among the top-ranked national team speed-skaters in Canada, and was an early hopeful for the 2010 Olympics. Her plans changed when, in 2005, she woke up one morning without sensation in her lower limbs. She was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis, and told that she would never skate again. 

The diagnosis was life altering: Crystal's identity, her social life, and sense of self had, until that time, been bound up with her athletic career.  But with her health and her future in question, she maintained a deep sense of gratitude for all that she had been given in life, and ultimately discovered a new purpose. After several relapses of the disease—and after fighting her way back to the Canadian national team—Crystal founded the Branch Out Foundation, which has seeded millions of dollars in research grants for non-pharmaceutical treatments for neurological disorders.