They said he couldn’t travel due to his disability. Today, he’s visited all seven continents

Curb Free with Cory Lee

Overcoming the Odds is a series celebrating everyday people who battle extraordinary adversities with courage and resilience.

At 36, Cory Lee has a travel record few can match: 56 countries and all seven continents (yes, even Antartica).

Remarkably, he’s accomplished this feat while using a 400-pound power wheelchair — navigating not just the globe but formidable accessibility barriers.

“I cannot physically use the restroom on a plane, so I’m usually dehydrating and starving myself for a couple days before the flight,” Cory told CNN. “On the day of the flight, I have to physically be lifted out of my wheelchair and put onto the plane and into my seat. On several occasions I’ve been dropped.

“I’m constantly worried if my power wheelchair is going to be damaged in the cargo hold because frequently it’s not tied down,” he added. “That happens all the time — I arrived in Barcelona a couple years ago and the front wheel caster was snapped in half. In Atlanta, the joystick was missing, and I couldn’t leave the airport.”

The effort it takes for Cory to travel is “insane, so much more than I have to do,” said Cory’s friend Kelly Narowski, a disability rights advocate who uses a manual wheelchair after losing the use of her legs in a car accident.

“His level of grit and perseverance is inspiring to me and many others, and I do not use the word ‘inspiring’ lightly,” said Kelly, who has traveled with Cory to Chile, Spain, Greece, Mexico, the Dominican Republic and the Bahamas.

Cory shares his adventures and provides accessibility advice on his popular travel blog, “ Curb Free with Cory Lee ,” which reaches an international audience of wheelchair users and their caregivers who are searching for ways to enrich their lives.

“Someone recognized him in a small town in Chile and again in Spain,” Kelly said. “He teaches young people with disabilities that they can still travel. It just is so heartwarming — he really changes lives.”

Cory’s been on so many adventures since he started his blog in 2013 that it’s hard for him to choose his favorites. A safari in Africa stands out: “I was able to touch a hippo — the whole trip really was such an incredible experience.”

Thailand, said Cory, “blew my mind — I was able to feed elephants and get a tattoo from a monk at a monastery in Thailand, which was really something!

“I’ve gone paragliding in the Swiss Alps. I’ve gone ziplining. I’ve gone snow skiing,” he said. “Travel really pushes me to break out of my comfort zone and embrace the world.”

Arriving in Antarctica, Cory recalled crying. “It was such an emotional moment for me, because I had worked so long and so hard to get to that point,” he said to CNN in a 2020 profile.

One of his most unusual experiences was a camel ride in 2018 in Morocco – the first of many annual “Curb Free” group tours that Cory organizes for wheelchair users.

“A company in Morocco actually invented the world’s first adapted camel saddle,” he said. “I will never forget being on that camel and looking out at the dunes of the Sahara Desert, pinching myself and thinking, ‘Is this even real?’ I never knew that I could have an experience like that as a wheelchair user.”

Cory’s mom, 57-year-old Sandy Gilbreath, is his constant travel partner, wrangling most everything — luggage, wheelchair repair, bathrooms, meals, showers and bedtime.

“He’s changed my life completely and my outlook on others with disabilities,” Sandy told CNN. “Someone in a wheelchair — I now see them as a person first.

“The wheelchair is not what disables them — the wheelchair is their freedom. It’s their independence,” she added. “It’s society and the limitations that are in the world for people with disabilities that is the problem.”

When 1-year-old Cory’s knees buckled as he tried to walk, Sandy knew something was terribly wrong.

“His legs would just give out, and his head would actually smack the floor before I could rush over and stop him,” she said. “I had taken him to pediatricians and tried to find out, ‘Is this normal? What’s going on?’ They kept saying, ‘Oh, you’re an overprotective mom.’ Finally, at that 2-year mark, I was like, ‘We’ve got to do something,’ and so they did a muscle biopsy on him.”

Cory was diagnosed with spinal muscular atrophy type 2, or SMA, a progressive genetic disorder caused by the loss of motor neurons in the spinal cord. After cystic fibrosis, SMA is the second most common severe hereditary disease in childhood.

As the disease progresses, muscles deteriorate, limiting the ability to hold one’s head upright, sit without support, raise arms or even breathe. Traditionally, some 70% of people with SMA live to the age of 25; some make it into their 30s.

“It was devastating, absolutely devastating,” Sandy said. “I called my parents, and I was like, ‘He’s got a muscle-wasting disease that there’s no cure for, and it’s just going to get worse over time.’

“My dad answered the phone that day, and he’s always been my rock, my go-to,” she said. “He never even skipped a beat. He said, ‘There’s a lot of things that people have wrong with them, but it’s how you deal with those challenges that make the difference.’ From that day on, I thought, ‘This is it. This is life. We’re going to make the best of it, and we move forward from there.’”

The disease progressed quickly. By age 4, Cory relied on a power wheelchair that required an accessible van. Sandy, now a single mom, had no money for a proper ramp or the equipment that could make caring for him easier.

“When I say we were poor, I’m not even kidding,” she said. “I struggled to buy groceries, to have gas to take him to therapy — swimming therapy, because in the water he was weightless, so he could move his arms, move his legs. It was 45 minutes from our house, and we had to go three days a week, and I didn’t have the gas money to take him.”

Despite the family’s challenges, Cory thrived. Carolyn Huggins, his daily caregiver throughout elementary and high school in his small, rural town in Georgia, remembers Cory as an extremely smart child who was “very sensitive to people’s feelings.”

“The young ladies at school, they just loved Cory,” Carolyn said. “They always wanted to help him during the school day — carry his book bag, his lunch tray, whatever. I think it was because Cory was such a sweet young man, and he just loved people.”

Cory pursued every opportunity that came his way. He was student council vice president twice and a member of the German Club, Beta Club and Drama Club. He also performed outside of school, starring in several plays across northwest Georgia.

“I jokingly tell people I’ve always felt like Cory didn’t even know he was disabled,” Sandy said. “Mentally, yes, he knows his limitations, but he never acted like he was disabled. He wanted to be in the spotlight, never shy or embarrassed or hiding his wheelchair. I don’t know where it came from, but I’m glad he had it.”

Cory credits his family, and especially his mom, for his positive attitude toward life.

“My mom, when I was growing up, she always told me: ‘If you can’t stand up, stand out.’ That’s been a motto I’ve lived with,” Cory said. “I’ve also not really known life outside of a wheelchair, so I don’t necessarily see myself as disabled.

“Society sees me that way, but I don’t see me that way. I was just taught to always stand out and rise above any situation that society wants to throw on me.”

As he headed towards graduation with a bachelor’s degree in marketing, Cory started job hunting, with little luck. Then a breakthrough: An advertising firm wanted him to fly to Pennsylvania for an interview.

“I was super excited. I flew to Pittsburgh the next day,” Cory said. “As soon as I rolled into the hiring manager’s office, he looked me up and down and I could sense he really only saw the wheelchair and didn’t see me as a person.”

Before the interview began, it was over.

“It wasn’t even five minutes,” said Sandy, who was waiting in the lobby. “Cory was right back out, tears rolling down his face. He told me the hiring manager looked at him and said, ‘This job is going to require a lot of travel, and you’re definitely not the best fit for this.’ And then the man walked back out of the room.

“Now, it’s unbelievable that Cory’s career is travel. But flying home from that job interview, we’re crying on the plane and I’m thinking, ‘What is his life going to be like? What will he do now? Nobody’s seeing past the chair.”

Ironically, before the interview Cory had been dreaming of a graduation trip to Australia. His internet searches for accessible travel information came up short, exposing yet another obstacle for people with disabilities.

“I thought, I’ll launch an accessible travel blog as a hobby — I never expected it to take over my life in the way that it has. Yet, it’s been the best thing that could have ever happened to me,” Cory said. “I can finally communicate with other people that actually understand what it’s like to live and travel with a disability. It’s been the best experience in the world.”

As Cory’s online audience grew, he was invited to give speeches and attend business conferences on accessible travel, broadening his reach.

“Travel destinations started reaching out to him and saying, ‘If you’ll come here and show what we’re offering, we’ll pay for it. We’ll pay you.’ It’s just grown into something unbelievable for me and for Cory,” Sandy said.

As the company blossomed, Sandy was able to quit her job as a Medicaid specialist and become a full-time employee, documenting their travels with videos and photographs and assisting with social media. She also co-authors children’s books with Cory and serves on the board of The Curb Free Foundation , a nonprofit they launched in 2022 to provide travel grants to wheelchair users.

“They offered me the opportunity to make a dream a reality,” said Maylan Chavez, a Florida-based Francophile who won a grant to visit Paris after years of French lessons.

“When I was at the opera and the Louvre, I would just cry a little bit, and say, ‘Wow, I can’t believe I’m here! I can’t believe I made it!’” said Maylan, who also has spinal muscular atrophy type 2.

“Many of us with SMA, we can’t even do a three-hour road trip because we don’t have the means, or we don’t have an accessible car or caregivers to take us,” she said. “I know a lot of us are homebound, so being able to see Cory go to Indonesia and all over the world and then being able to do a trip myself was incredible.”

As his health has worsened in recent years, Cory has been determined to visit as many places as possible before travel becomes too difficult. He and his mom took 24 trips over six months in 2025 and, so far in 2026, have taken 17 trips over four months. Next year’s plans include Beijing, Hong Kong and four group trips to Italy, with more to come.

Sandy worries about her health as well. Despite doing daily core exercises for years — 200 crunches before bed and 50 squats while brushing her teeth in the morning — she fears the physical strain of lifting Cory in and out of planes, taxis, trains and trams could take a toll.

“I’m not only stressed about his health and his equipment getting damaged, but I’m also worried about me. What if I got sick and we’re on a trip? Who’s going to help him?” she said.

“I try to be positive, I really do. I’m always looking at the glass half full. But on the inside, it hurts to see your child struggle just to raise his arms to eat. I see those declines happening,” Sandy said. “But I just live for today. We’re going to do it as long as I’m able and as long as he’s willing to let me.”

For Cory, too, the desire to keep traveling outweighs the difficulties. Travel makes him feel alive — and he hopes to spend years doing what he loves while challenging society’s narrow expectations of people with disabilities.

“I have the best job in the world,” Cory said. “I hope my legacy shows able-bodied people just what people with disabilities are capable of, and that we can do so much and have so many incredible experiences. The more information and visibility we can get out into the world, the better.”

科里·李的《路边免费》

《战胜逆境》系列节目旨在颂扬那些以勇气和韧性战胜非凡逆境的普通人。

36 岁的科里·李拥有鲜有人能及的旅行记录：到访过 56 个国家和所有七大洲（是的，甚至包括南极洲）。

令人惊叹的是，他使用一辆重达 400 磅的电动轮椅完成了这项壮举——不仅环游世界，还克服了巨大的无障碍障碍。

科里告诉CNN：“我无法在飞机上使用洗手间，所以通常会在飞行前几天​​脱水并挨饿。飞行当天，我必须被人从轮椅上抬下来，放到飞机上，再放到座位上。有好几次，我都被人摔了下来。”

“我一直担心我的电动轮椅在货舱里会不会损坏，因为它经常没有固定好，”他补充道。“这种情况经常发生——几年前我抵达巴塞罗那时，前轮的脚轮断成了两截。在亚特兰大，操纵杆不见了，我根本无法离开机场。”

科里出行所付出的努力“简直太疯狂了，比我付出的要多得多，”科里的朋友凯莉·纳罗夫斯基说道。凯莉是一位残疾人权利倡导者，她在一次车祸中失去了双腿，现在使用手动轮椅。

“他的毅力和坚持不懈的精神激励着我和许多其他人，我不会轻易使用‘激励’这个词，”凯利说道，她曾与科里一起去过智利、西班牙、希腊、墨西哥、多米尼加共和国和巴哈马群岛。

科里在他的热门旅行博客“Curb Free with Cory Lee”上分享他的冒险经历并提供无障碍建议，该博客面向国际轮椅使用者及其护理人员，旨在帮助他们寻找丰富生活的方法。

“有人在智利的一个小镇认出了他，后来在西班牙又有人认出了他，”凯利说。“他让残疾青年明白，他们仍然可以旅行。这真的太令人感动了——他真的改变了人们的生活。”

自2013年开博客以来，科里经历了无数冒险，很难选出最喜欢的。其中一次非洲之旅让他印象深刻：“我竟然能摸到河马——整个旅程真是一次不可思议的体验。”

科里说：“泰国让我大开眼界——我能够在泰国的一座寺庙里喂大象，还能让僧侣给我纹身，这真是太棒了！”

“我去瑞士阿尔卑斯山玩过滑翔伞，玩过高空滑索，也滑过雪，”他说。“旅行真的能让我走出舒适区，拥抱世界。”

抵达南极洲时，科里回忆说他当时哭了。“对我来说，那是一个非常激动人心的时刻，因为我为了走到这一步付出了太多努力，”他在2020年接受CNN采访时说道。

他最不寻常的经历之一是 2018 年在摩洛哥骑骆驼——这是科里为轮椅使用者组织的众多年度“无障碍”团体旅行中的第一次。

“摩洛哥一家公司发明了世界上第一款改良型骆驼鞍，”他说。“我永远不会忘记骑在骆驼上，眺望撒哈拉沙漠的沙丘，我掐了掐自己，心想，‘这是真的吗？’我以前从未想过，作为一个轮椅使用者，我竟然也能有这样的体验。”

科里的母亲，57 岁的桑迪·吉尔布雷斯，是他形影不离的旅行伙伴，几乎包办了一切——行李、轮椅修理、浴室、吃饭、洗澡和就寝时间。

“他彻底改变了我的生活，也改变了我对其他残疾人的看法，”桑迪告诉CNN。“现在，我首先把坐在轮椅上的人看作是人。”

她补充说：“轮椅本身并不是让他们残疾的原因——轮椅是他们的自由，是他们的独立。真正的问题在于社会以及这个世界对残疾人的种种限制。”

当一岁的科里尝试走路时膝盖突然一软，桑迪就知道情况非常不妙。

“他的腿会突然失去支撑，还没等我冲过去阻止，他的头就已经重重地撞到地上了，”她说。“我带他去看过儿科医生，想弄清楚‘这正常吗？到底是怎么回事？’他们总是说，‘哦，你是个过度保护的妈妈。’最后，在他两岁的时候，我终于想通了，‘我们必须做点什么了’，于是他们给他做了肌肉活检。”

科里被诊断患有脊髓性肌萎缩症2型（SMA），这是一种进行性遗传性疾病，由脊髓运动神经元的丢失引起。SMA是继囊性纤维化之后，儿童时期第二常见的严重遗传性疾病。

随着病情发展，肌肉逐渐萎缩，患者难以保持头部直立、独立坐立、抬起手臂，甚至呼吸。通常情况下，约70%的脊髓性肌萎缩症患者能活到25岁，部分患者能活到30多岁。

“这真是晴天霹雳，彻头彻尾的打击，”桑迪说。“我打电话给我父母，我说，‘他得了一种无法治愈的肌肉萎缩症，而且病情只会随着时间推移越来越严重。’”

“那天是我爸爸接的电话，他一直是我最坚实的依靠，我的知己，”她说。“他毫不犹豫地回答，说：‘人有很多缺点，但关键在于你如何应对这些挑战。’从那天起，我就想：‘就是这样。这就是生活。我们要尽力做到最好，然后继续前进。’”

病情发展迅速。科里四岁时就需要依靠电动轮椅出行，而这需要一辆无障碍厢式车。桑迪现在是一位单亲妈妈，她没有钱购买合适的坡道或其他能方便照顾科里的设备。

“我说我们穷，可真不是开玩笑，”她说。“我买菜都很困难，还要攒钱带他去做康复治疗——游泳康复治疗，因为在水里他感觉不到重量，所以可以活动胳膊和腿。治疗中心离我们家有45分钟车程，我们每周要去三天，但我根本没钱送他去。”

尽管家庭面临诸多挑战，科里依然茁壮成长。卡罗琳·哈金斯在科里位于佐治亚州乡村小镇的小学和中学时期一直照顾他，她回忆说，科里是个非常聪明的孩子，而且“对别人的感受非常敏感”。

“学校里的女生们都特别喜欢科里，”卡罗琳说。“她们总是想在学校里帮他——帮他拿书包、拿午餐托盘，什么都行。我想是因为科里是个非常善良的年轻人，他真的很喜欢和人相处。”

科里抓住了每一个机会。他曾两次担任学生会副主席，也是德语俱乐部、贝塔俱乐部和戏剧俱乐部的成员。此外，他还积极参与校外演出，在佐治亚州西北部的几部戏剧中担任主角。

“我常开玩笑地跟人说，我觉得科里好像根本不知道自己是残疾人，”桑迪说。“从精神上来说，他当然知道自己的局限，但他从没表现得像个残疾人。他总是想成为焦点，从不害羞、尴尬，也从不藏起他的轮椅。我不知道他这种性格从何而来，但我很高兴他有这种性格。”

科里将自己积极的生活态度归功于他的家人，尤其是他的母亲。

科里说：“我妈妈从小就告诉我：‘如果你站不起来，那就脱颖而出。’我一直把这句话奉为人生格言。” “而且，我从来没有真正体验过轮椅以外的生活，所以我不认为自己是残疾人。”

“社会那样看待我，但我并不那样看待自己。我只是从小就被教育要脱颖而出，超越社会强加给我的任何境遇。”

科里即将获得市场营销专业的学士学位，毕业后便开始找工作，但进展并不顺利。直到后来出现了转机：一家广告公司邀请他飞往宾夕法尼亚州参加面试。

“我当时特别兴奋，第二天就飞去了匹兹堡，”科里说。“我一走进招聘经理的办公室，他就上下打量了我一番，我感觉他看到的只是轮椅，而不是我这个人。”

面试还没开始，就已经结束了。

“不到五分钟，”在大厅等候的桑迪说，“科里立刻就出来了，眼泪顺着脸颊流下来。他告诉我，招聘经理看了他一眼，说：‘这份工作需要经常出差，你绝对不是最合适的人选。’然后那人就走出了房间。”

“现在，科里的职业居然是旅行，这真是难以置信。但从那次面试回家的飞机上，我们俩都在哭，我在想，‘他以后的生活会是什么样子？他以后该怎么办？没有人能看到他除了那把椅子之外的潜力。’”

具有讽刺意味的是，在采访之前，科里一直梦想着毕业后去澳大利亚旅行。他在网上搜索无障碍旅行信息，却一无所获，这又暴露了残疾人士面临的另一个障碍。

“我当时的想法是，开一个无障碍旅行博客，就当是个爱好——我从没想过它会像这样占据我生活的全部。然而，这却是我人生中最棒的事情，”科里说。“我终于可以和其他真正理解残障人士生活和旅行感受的人交流了。这真是世界上最棒的体验。”

随着科里的在线观众群不断扩大，他受邀就无障碍旅行发表演讲并参加商务会议，从而扩大了他的影响力。

“一些旅游目的地开始主动联系他，说：‘如果你能来这里展示一下我们的产品，我们会支付费用。我们会付你钱。’这对我和科里来说，简直是难以置信的事情，”桑迪说道。

随着公司发展壮大，桑迪得以辞去医疗补助专员的工作，成为一名全职员工，负责用视频和照片记录他们的旅行，并协助管理社交媒体。她还与科里合著儿童读物，并担任“无障碍出行基金会”（The Curb Free Foundation）的董事会成员。该基金会是他们于2022年创立的非营利组织，旨在为轮椅使用者提供旅行资助。

“他们给了我实现梦想的机会，”来自佛罗里达州的法语爱好者梅兰·查韦斯说道。经过多年的法语学习，他获得了一笔资助，得以访问巴黎。

“当我在歌剧院和卢浮宫时，我会忍不住哭一会儿，然后说，‘哇，我简直不敢相信我在这里！我简直不敢相信我做到了！’”梅兰说道，她还患有 2 型脊髓性肌萎缩症。

“我们这些患有脊髓性肌萎缩症的人，很多连三个小时的车程都无法完成，因为我们没有条件，或者没有合适的车辆，也没有人照顾我们，”她说。“我知道我们很多人都只能待在家里，所以能够看到科里去印度尼西亚和世界各地旅行，然后我自己也能去旅行，真是太棒了。”

近年来，科里的健康状况每况愈下，但他仍然决心在旅行变得过于困难之前尽可能多地去看看世界。2025年，他和母亲在六个月内进行了24次旅行；而2026年至今，他们在四个月内已经完成了17次旅行。明年的计划包括北京、香港以及四次意大利的团体旅行，未来还会有更多旅行计划。

桑迪也担心自己的健康。尽管她多年来每天都坚持核心肌群锻炼——睡前做200个仰卧起坐，早上刷牙时做50个深蹲——但她担心，每天抱着科里上下飞机、出租车、火车和电车，会对身体造成很大的负担。

“我不仅担心他的健康和设备损坏，也担心我自己。如果我生病了，而我们又在旅行途中怎么办？谁来照顾他？”她说道。

“我努力保持乐观，真的。我总是看到事物积极的一面。但内心深处，看到孩子连抬起胳膊吃饭都困难，真的很难受。我眼睁睁地看着他身体每况愈下，”桑迪说。“但我只想活在当下。只要我还能做到，只要他愿意，我们就会一直坚持下去。”

对科里来说，旅行的渴望也战胜了种种困难。旅行让他感到自己真正活着——他希望在未来的岁月里继续做自己热爱的事情，同时挑战社会对残疾人士的狭隘刻板印象。

“我拥有世界上最好的工作，”科里说。“我希望我的经历能让健全人看到残疾人的能力，让他们明白我们能做很多事情，拥有很多精彩的经历。我们能让世界了解得越多，看到我们越多，就越好。”