Prolific vlogger Casey Neistat highlighted the story of Logan Knowles, an athlete with cerebral palsy who defied doctors’ predictions and successfully completed the 2025 New York City Marathon.
Cerebral palsy is a neurological condition that affects a person’s muscles, posture, and movement. It occurs due to the brain developing abnormally or being damaged before birth.
The severity of symptoms vary wildly among those diagnosed; some are wheelchair-bound, while others, like Logan, can undertake challenging athletic endeavors.
Logan has been pursuing athletics ever since he was young. He even joined little league baseball, where he played using a walker, but was kicked off the team for prohibited moves like ‘sliding’ and ‘diving.’
His persistence toward athletics came as a huge shock to doctors, who predicted that he would be confined to a wheelchair for the rest of his life soon after he was born.
Logan has been adamantly defying these predictions ever since, partially thanks to his mother, who encouraged him to live his life as if he were any other kid. He even joined a competitive skiing team, and is Class 31 ATF athlete training to qualify for the Paralympics for Para Alpine Ski Racing.
Logan Knowles inspires the internet after completing NYC Marathon
In 2025, Logan decided to participate in the New York City Marathon, a 26.2-mile race that takes runners through all five boroughs of NYC. He managed to successfully complete the grueling course alongside his trainer… but not after burning through three different pairs of shoes.
This is a common problem for Logan, whose gait is quite different from other people due to his cerebral palsy. Because of this, he often runs straight through his sneakers, to the point where his big toe will poke through and touch the ground.
He also began to experience painful muscle cramps in his back at the 20-mile mark, making it difficult for him to hold himself upright and even causing him to collapse. Despite all of these complications, he powered through and finished the race in an inspiring story that Neistat featured on his YouTube channel.
“When I start making excuses, when I think I can’t do something, I just think, Logan did it,” Neistat said.
The story left commenters teary-eyed, with newfound ambition sparked by Logan’s refusal to quit despite his circumstances.
