Arizona man with cerebral palsy completed Boston Marathon

PHOENIX (3TV/CBS 5) — Michael Wilson was diagnosed with cerebral palsy when he was 3 years old. His parents were told back then that he may never walk. Today he and his mom Liz are in the Good Morning Arizona studio to talk about completing this year’s Boston Marathon.

“The thing with the marathon is — you start off the marathon, it feels pretty good at the start,” Michael says. “You have, like, all this energy built up at the start. And then a good amount of ways in and that energy — it’s somewhat there, but it is there.”

“You got to push through,” Liz says.

Liz explains that when she and her spouse learned about the diagnosis, doctors gave them a set of exercises. She thought that maybe these exercises would help him possibly to stand and maybe walk. “But I never really thought he was going to run,” she said. “It wasn’t even a thought in my head. Once we got through all of that, he got therapy — he was able to walk — and then he just kept on moving. He’s always had a ton of energy.”

She goes on to say that they first got him into soccer, but he was unable to kick a ball. Then, they learned about a running club. “It was a perfect opportunity for us,” she says.

The Wilsons are fundraising for the local nonprofit RUN3rd Alliance, founded by Mesa physical education teacher Mindy Prezeor and actor Sean Astin who coined #RUN3rd. The organization helps provide after-school running programs for elementary school students, as well as hosts a local 5K run. If you want to chip in, you can donate directly to the organization or through Michael Wilson’s fundraising page through GivenGain.