August 5, 2024, was supposed to be a regular day for Catfish star Nev Schulman. The TV show host and amateur marathoner was on his way to pick up his son when disaster struck. Schulman, who will return to running at the New York Marathon, was biking to his son’s camp when he made a mistake while merging lanes. A lapse in concentration led to Schulman rear-ending a truck.

The crash resulted in the marathoner slamming head-first into the back of the vehicle. While the helmet protected his head, the Catfish host fractured his neck. Schulman was rushed to Southampton Hospital, but the doctors quickly realized he would need intensive care and surgery. However, even the staff at Stony Brook Hospital felt overwhelmed.

“I just remember the look on every nurse and doctor’s face as they came into the room for the first time… [They were] expecting me to be some version of paralyzed, and being so shocked, and almost confused,” Nev Schulman told the New York Post. During the following 48 hours inside the ICU, Schulman became acutely aware of just how much of a close call he had had.

“I came to not potentially walking out of the hospital — or walking — ever again,” Schulman explained during the exclusive interview. However, just two months after his potentially life-altering accident, Schulman is ready to participate in this year’s New York Marathon. This will be in shape contrast to what the MTV host’s doctor had predicted in August.

Nev Schulman told his doctor about his desire to run shortly after the incident. However, the medical professional dismissed the possibility, stating that he would need to spend six weeks in a neck brace and shouldn’t consider running any marathons for the rest of the year. Despite this, the Upper East Side resident recovered quickly.

The six-week scan showed his neck had healed and shortly after getting out of the brace, Schulman ran his first mile. However, the marathoner made the plan to run at the 2024 TCS New York Marathon long before his neck had healed.

The one who motivated Nev Schulman to run the New York Marathon

The 53rd NYC Marathon will be far from the Upper East Side native’s first time running through the streets of his city. In fact, this year will mark Nev Schulman’s eighth run through the World Marathon Majors course. In fact, Schulman ran multiple half-marathons, including the NYRR Brooklyn Half and the United NYC Half races.

However, his love for running was the primary motivating factor behind the MTV host’s quick turnaround. The credit for getting Schulman back to running so soon after a devastating injury belongs to Francesco Magisano, a blind marathoner who ran with Schulman last year. During the 2023 New York Marathon, the Catfish host served as the runner’s guide.

This year, Magisano texted his pacer while he was still in the hospital. “I wouldn’t count on me to be your guide,” Schulman responded to his biddy, but Magisano was prepared to wait. Instead, of caring about breaking personal bests, the marathoner simply wanted to run the race. “I don’t care how fast or slow we go,” replied Achilles International’s NYC director.

While Nev Schulman had no plans of staying down for too long, his friend’s words only motivated him further. So now, just two months after suffering an injury that may have left him unable to walk, Nev Schulman will run 26.7 miles (42.97 km) through the streets of New York.