When she was 18 years old, Sierra Andrews was in a car accident that left her without the use of her legs. Yesterday, she graduated from MSOE. Today, she joins WTMJ’s Libby Collins to discuss the trials and tribulations of attending college in a wheelchair and her recently published children’s book, Not Everyone Walks the Stage. It’s all ahead on this edition of WTMJ Conversations!
To purchase Not Everyone Walks the Stage, click here.
A partial transcript is provided below, courtesy of eCourt Reporters.
LIBBY COLLINS: You are in a wheelchair, and I just have to ask the question: How the heck did that happen, Sierra?
SIERRA ANDREWS: Yeah, yeah. It was my senior year in high school, I was coming back from somebody’s house, and the roads were just terrible. I was driving a truck. It slides on ice and goes into a ditch, and there was a log in said ditch. And my truck hit it, somehow it got airborne, and it ended up rolling in the air. And so, I was thrown over the center console. And then the roof was crushed by a tree on its way down. And the roof crushed my vertebrae, which severed my spinal cord.
I have no recollection of the accident itself. I remember seeing one of the EMTs in the back of the ambulance. And then I remember telling my doctor my mom’s phone number, because I knew she would be paranoid about where I was.
LIBBY COLLINS: Have you ever lost control where you thought maybe you were going to fall out of the chair?
SIERRA ANDREWS: Yes. Short answer, yes. There’s been several instances. I think I’ve done it twice while I have been intoxicated. And it’s funny because I don’t like people helping me back up into it, so it’s got to be a funny sight to see, to watch this cripple try to wrestle herself drunk back into her wheelchair, but —
LIBBY COLLINS: I’m sorry, I’m laughing, but I probably shouldn’t.
SIERRA ANDREWS: No, it is funny. It is funny. My friends think it’s hilarious. One of my favorite times.
LIBBY COLLINS: The first time you went into the wheelchair, what went through your mind?
SIERRA ANDREWS: I remember the first feeling, the first like couple of minutes, I was so happy. I was like — it’s strange. I feel like able-bodied people sometimes have this notion that the wheelchair is a bad thing. It’s really not. It’s a tool for people like myself to get around and do things that they wouldn’t otherwise be able to do. And so, that’s when I say it was — I was happy to be out of bed. I was
happy to be moving around and figuring out how it worked. And, like, the wheelchair fascinates people, which is completely valid, also fascinated me. When they sit in it for the first time, trying to work out how it works and there’s this curiosity. And as a very curious person, I had that same notion when I was sitting in a wheelchair for a little bit. It was a very fun experience for probably like ten minutes.
LIBBY COLLINS: Being involved in the graduation of students at MSOE led you to become an author.
SIERRA ANDREWS: Yes, it did.
LIBBY COLLINS: And your book is out.
SIERRA ANDREWS: It is. It came out April 26th.
LIBBY COLLINS: And it’s called?
SIERRA ANDREWS: “Not Everyone Walks the Stage.”
LIBBY COLLINS: Why did you name it that?
SIERRA ANDREWS: It was a joke that was made. My boss and I were in a commencement meeting, and one of his friends calls him. And Nick goes, I’m sorry, I can’t talk right now, I’m in this meeting with my senior commencement assistant. And Nick makes a joke that it’s funny that you help so many people walk the stage but you won’t be able to walk the stage yourself. And I laughed, I thought it was funny.
And his friend goes, That sounds like a pretty good book idea.
Nick, you know, laughs, says, Yeah, it is.
We go about our meeting.
And then a week later Nick goes, Do you actually want to do this.
I was like, Yeah, of course.
He’s goes, No, seriously.
I was like, Oh, well, sure.
