Among those who participated in the open state marathon in Sarajevo last weekend was also Aleksa Petrovic, a young man with cerebral paralysis who managed to get to the finish line with a little help from his friends.

A photo of Petrovic being pushed n a wheelchair to the finish line by his friends became viral across the region.

Petrovic, from Jagodina in Serbia, has lived with the illness since he was an infant, making even some basic daily activities impossible for him to do on his own.

However, he managed to participate in the Sarajevo marathon – and this was not his first one. When Aleksa was first grade, he met Nemanja Ivanovic, and the two became best friends from then on with Nemanja helping him throughout his life.

One day, the two were invited by Aleksandar Andrejevic, from the association ‘Udruzenje za izazove’, to participate in the Belgrade marathon.

That was Aleksa’s first marathon. But it did not go by smoothly, as the front wheels of Aleksa’s wheelchair broke.

Nevertheless, he reached the finish line – Nemanja and another friend, Marko, raised the wheelchair on the back wheels and pushed him that way until the end.

That image also became viral throughout the region.