Three months after breaking his neck in a serious bicycle accident, MTV’s “Catfish” host Nev Schulman is ready to run the New York City Marathon.
Shulman is expected to step off the starting line on Sunday, Nov. 3, defying the expectations of some who thought he would never walk again.
Shulman said: “I just remember the expression every nurse and doctor had when they first walked into the room.” New York Post. “[They were] I expected her to have some sort of paralysis, to be very shocked and almost disoriented.
“Everyone came in and did the same tests every few hours. They were touching my feet and saying: ‘Do you feel this? ‘ I became very conscious within the first 48 hours. [in the ICU] How close I was to never leaving the hospital again, or never walking again.
Shulman is the host of MTV’s “Catfish,” the popular program that follows the journey of couples who have formed a relationship online, but have never met in person and may not match the photos they submitted online.
He was riding his bike through the Hamptons in August to pick up his son from camp. When he tried to enter a traffic lane, he crashed into a truck.
“Somehow the moment I looked over my shoulder,” he said, “the traffic stopped and I hit a truck from behind and flew over my handlebars and hit my head on the back of this truck.
Doctors rushed him to Stony Brook Hospital for surgery after discovering a broken neck.
But Schulman was already planning his comeback and asked his doctor when he could start running again.
“He told me: ‘You’ll have a neck brace for at least six weeks. Schulman said: “I probably don’t expect to run any marathons this year.”
Schulman ran a marathon last year with blind runner Francesco Magisano. He was about to give up on his hopes for the 2024 race, until Magisano sent him a text message.
I said, “Yeah, I feel really bad,” Schulman said: “You’re not going to count on me to be your mentor.”
“His response was: “Nev, I want to run it with you. I don’t care how fast or slow we go. If you feel there’s an opportunity to do it, I’ll wait.”
After Schulman’s six-week X-ray showed his recovery, he began training, much to his doctor’s surprise.
Shulman said: “I said, ‘Am I allowed to run? “And I actually recorded a video of him saying it so I could show it to my wife, because I knew she wouldn’t believe me.”