It started with an impassioned letter from a Parkland, Fla., teenager to Nike Chief Executive Mark Parker. It ended with a dream come true.
Matthew Walzer told Parker he has cerebral palsy, that at birth doctors told his parents their son would never walk.
Now he is readying for college and, inspired by the Nike slogan, ‘If you have a body, you are an athlete, he needed a pair of shoes that he could easily get on his feet.
To his surprise, a 23-year-old product manager for Nike called, saying that he, too, has cerebral palsy and he, too, has a passion for sports but can’t play them.
They talked for nearly an hour.
Some weeks later, Matthew got his delivery from Nike.
(READ the story from The Oregonian)
[…] called, saying that he, too, has cerebral palsy and a passion for sports. As GNN reported in 2012, Nike’s designers were inspired by the young man’s letter, and worked with Matthew for the next few years on a lace-free prototype […]